DAVENPORT & Co LLC Lowers Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 88.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,046 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 37,101 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC's holdings in Global Payments were worth $494,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Truvestments Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,685 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $413,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 10,963 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,228,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 33,902 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,795,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,932 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,135 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GPN shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Global Payments from $105.00 to $77.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Global Payments from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Williams Trading set a $75.00 target price on Global Payments in a research report on Friday, April 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $86.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Monday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $111.09.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN traded down $2.35 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $78.88. 2,334,705 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,507,079. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.24 billion, a PE ratio of 12.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.94. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.93 and a fifty-two week high of $120.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $91.98.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.73 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.33% and a net margin of 15.48%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.59 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. Global Payments's payout ratio is 16.13%.

About Global Payments

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.