Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by Janney Montgomery Scott LLC

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lessened its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 16.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,292 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 5,253 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,575,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Hengehold Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 33.9% during the 1st quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 6,345 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $621,000 after purchasing an additional 1,608 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 45.7% during the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 695 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 8.4% during the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 56,427 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,525,000 after buying an additional 4,365 shares during the period. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 12.3% in the first quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,668 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 1st quarter valued at $318,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cowen cut Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. TD Cowen cut shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, April 21st. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, April 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $110.91.

Global Payments Stock Up 1.2%

GPN stock traded up $0.90 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $79.14. 356,112 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,494,863. The company has a market cap of $19.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.93. 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 stock's 50-day simple moving average is $76.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.24.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 12.33%. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.59 EPS. The company's revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.