Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by Natixis

Natixis reduced its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 23.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 224,633 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 69,100 shares during the quarter. Natixis owned about 0.09% of Global Payments worth $25,172,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. acquired a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 177.5% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 469 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake 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 valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GPN shares. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Williams Trading set a $75.00 target price on Global Payments in a research report on Friday, April 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $122.00 price target (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $114.86.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of GPN traded up $0.40 during trading on Thursday, reaching $72.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,137,780 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,395,886. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.93 and a twelve month high of $127.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $17.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a fifty day moving average of $93.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.30.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.18%.

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.