Estuary Capital Management LP Sells 138,591 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Estuary Capital Management LP lessened its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 36.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 240,368 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 138,591 shares during the period. Global Payments accounts for approximately 7.9% of Estuary Capital Management LP's portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Estuary Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.09% of Global Payments worth $26,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,800,952,000 after buying an additional 179,195 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,659,984 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 301,877 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at about $345,823,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,730,471 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $305,977,000 after buying an additional 305,987 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Global Payments Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of GPN stock traded up $0.90 during trading on Friday, reaching $80.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,434,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,426,104. 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 $19.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $86.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $102.39. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.93 and a 1-year high of $120.00.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen lowered shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $112.09.

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.