Metis Global Partners LLC Trims Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Metis Global Partners LLC decreased its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 11.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,428 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,092 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 40.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,078,525,000 after buying an additional 2,703,434 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in Global Payments by 40.5% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,613,000 after buying an additional 1,481,714 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Global Payments by 3.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,499,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $403,849,000 after buying an additional 116,664 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Global Payments by 2.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,402,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $392,657,000 after buying an additional 89,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Global Payments by 338.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,288,108 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $379,416,000 after buying an additional 2,537,941 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $111.06 on Thursday. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $95.12 and a 52 week high of $141.77. The company’s 50 day moving average is $126.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.81. The company has a market cap of $28.35 billion, a PE ratio of 22.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Susquehanna reduced their target price on Global Payments from $160.00 to $157.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Global Payments from $143.00 to $128.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Global Payments from $160.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Citigroup reduced their target price on Global Payments from $163.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-one 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 target price of $150.00.

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.