Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. Trims Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. reduced its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 344,703 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 23,503 shares during the quarter. Global Payments accounts for about 2.8% of Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. owned about 0.14% of Global Payments worth $38,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GPN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $2,800,952,000 after purchasing an additional 179,195 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in Global Payments by 25.0% in the 4th 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 lifted its stake in Global Payments by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,230,322 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $696,362,000 after acquiring an additional 301,877 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Global Payments by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,499,729 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $564,437,000 after acquiring an additional 83,481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $345,823,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stephens lowered shares of Global Payments from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Cowen downgraded shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. StockNews.com raised Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Global Payments from $105.00 to $77.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Monday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $112.86.

Global Payments Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of GPN stock opened at $74.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $103.82. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.93 and a 1 year high of $126.06. 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 cap of $18.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. On average, research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.18%.

About Global Payments

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.

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