Ethic Inc. Trims Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Ethic Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 56.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,704 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 15,112 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,312,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Global Payments by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 299,137 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $30,638,000 after buying an additional 8,078 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its stake in Global Payments by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 55,180 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $6,183,000 after buying an additional 3,349 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth about $678,000. Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in Global Payments by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 17,973 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,900,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Global Payments by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,402 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $605,000 after buying an additional 530 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN stock traded down $0.61 during trading on Friday, reaching $82.37. The company had a trading volume of 3,610,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,458,160. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.77. The company has a market cap of $20.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.93 and a twelve month high of $120.00.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.73 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.20 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. Global Payments's revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.59 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Global Payments's payout ratio is currently 16.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Williams Trading set a $75.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, April 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $112.43.

Global Payments Profile

Global Payments Inc provides payment technology and software solutions for card, check, and digital-based payments in the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates through two segments, Merchant Solutions and Issuer Solutions. The Merchant Solutions segment offers authorization, settlement and funding, customer support, chargeback resolution, terminal rental, sales and deployment, payment security, and consolidated billing and reporting services.