Savant Capital LLC Sells 140 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Savant Capital LLC lessened its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,601 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 140 shares during the quarter. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $457,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in Global Payments by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,525,000 after buying an additional 2,703,434 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 338.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,288,108 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $379,416,000 after buying an additional 2,537,941 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 3rd quarter worth about $197,875,000. Boston Partners boosted its position 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 valued at $591,613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481,714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Global Payments by 119.0% in the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,085,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $125,287,000 after acquiring an additional 590,000 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $111.37 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $28.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50 day moving average of $127.50 and a 200-day moving average of $124.82. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $95.12 and a one year high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.40% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Global Payments from $160.00 to $152.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $129.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Wedbush increased their price objective on Global Payments from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $182.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus 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.