Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 5,901 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA reduced its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,976,595 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 5,901 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $221,497,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth approximately $345,823,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $929,969,000 after buying an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. Focused Investors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at $99,969,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1,559.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 548,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $61,502,000 after buying an additional 515,763 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,700,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on GPN shares. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price objective (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America cut their price target on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.10.

Global Payments Trading Down 6.7 %

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $92.96 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $90.99 and a 52-week high of $129.35. The stock has a market cap of $22.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.04, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $102.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.01.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. Equities analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 16.18%.

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.