State of Wyoming Grows Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

State of Wyoming boosted its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 1,617.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,274 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,967 shares during the quarter. State of Wyoming's holdings in Global Payments were worth $591,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new position in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. purchased a new position in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position in Global Payments by 177.5% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 469 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in Global Payments by 374.2% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 569 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Global Payments Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE GPN traded down $1.60 on Friday, reaching $74.12. 2,199,931 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,471,562. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.93 and a fifty-two week high of $120.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $83.62 and a 200 day moving average of $100.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96.

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. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.59 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Global Payments's payout ratio is currently 16.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Bank of America dropped their price target on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays dropped their price target on Global Payments from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Williams Trading set a $75.00 price target on Global Payments in a research report on Friday, April 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $112.43.

Global Payments Company 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.