Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Sells 225 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lessened its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,760 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 225 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $478,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 564 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 60.5% in the third quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 19,593 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,261,000 after buying an additional 7,387 shares during the period. Shaker Investments LLC OH bought a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,815,000. AFS Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $202,000. Finally, Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in Global Payments by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 19,519 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,479,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Global Payments Price Performance

GPN stock opened at $111.09 on Tuesday. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $95.12 and a 12 month high of $141.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $127.05 and a 200-day moving average of $124.81.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.40% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 19.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GPN. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $163.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $143.00 to $128.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Wedbush increased their target price 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. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $160.00 to $157.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $150.00.

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.