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

DAVENPORT & Co LLC lessened its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 88.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund 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 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Global Payments by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,800,952,000 after purchasing an additional 179,195 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $929,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,230,322 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $696,362,000 after purchasing an additional 301,877 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $345,823,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,906,444 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $325,698,000 after acquiring an additional 259,590 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GPN shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Monday, April 21st. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Evercore ISI began coverage on Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Cowen lowered Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $111.09.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN stock traded down $0.05 on Wednesday, reaching $80.61. The stock had a trading volume of 1,315,895 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,504,037. The stock has a market cap of $19.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.93 and a 1 year high of $120.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $78.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.27.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 12.33% and a net margin of 15.48%. Global Payments's revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.59 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Global Payments's payout ratio is 16.13%.

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.