Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC Sells 160 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC reduced its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 40,075 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 160 shares during the quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $4,491,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 177.5% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 469 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised 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 worth $64,000 after buying an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on GPN shares. Barclays cut their price objective on Global Payments from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Global Payments from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Global Payments currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.09.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN opened at $80.47 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.02, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $65.93 and a one year high of $120.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $86.87 and a 200 day moving average of $102.39.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.13%.

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.