Cerity Partners LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 406.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,381 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,937 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,572,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,819,457 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,138,638,000 after acquiring an additional 134,403 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,078,525,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703,434 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 40.5% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $591,613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481,714 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 24.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,518,268 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $370,263,000 after acquiring an additional 698,913 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,499,860 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $403,849,000 after acquiring an additional 116,664 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE GPN traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $122.10. 1,065,055 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,823,207. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $95.12 and a 12-month high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $130.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.40. The firm has a market cap of $31.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.30 earnings per share. Global Payments's quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Global Payments's payout ratio is currently 26.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GPN shares. TheStreet raised shares of Global Payments from a "c" rating to a "b-" rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $151.92.

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.