Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Position Reduced by Leavell Investment Management Inc.

Leavell Investment Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 9.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 76,705 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 8,173 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Global Payments were worth $7,511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 0.7% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,230,322 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $696,362,000 after purchasing an additional 301,877 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth approximately $345,823,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted 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 worth $325,698,000 after purchasing an additional 259,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,730,471 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $305,977,000 after purchasing an additional 305,987 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $86.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, April 25th. TD Cowen downgraded Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, April 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Global Payments from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $111.09.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Global Payments stock opened at $80.61 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.93 and a 12-month high of $120.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.94.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.20 billion during 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 company's revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.59 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Global Payments's payout ratio is currently 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.

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