B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Sells 5,718 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 66.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,851 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 5,718 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Global Payments were worth $319,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GPN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Global Payments by 25.0% during the fourth 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 raised its stake in Global Payments by 5.1% during the fourth 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 stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at $345,823,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Global Payments by 9.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 259,590 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN stock traded up $0.90 on Tuesday, hitting $75.81. 830,747 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,467,466. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company has a market capitalization of $18.49 billion, a PE ratio of 12.27, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.93 and a 1-year high of $120.00. The company's fifty day moving average is $80.83 and its 200 day moving average is $98.96.

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Cowen downgraded Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $86.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wolfe Research restated a "peer perform" rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $110.91.

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.