Cerity Partners LLC Sells 2,789 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Cerity Partners LLC decreased its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 9.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,087 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,789 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GPN. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $725,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,484 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $727,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 255.7% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 37,909 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,248,000 after buying an additional 27,252 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 10,963 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,228,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 294.7% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 10,076 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after buying an additional 7,523 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Williams Trading set a $75.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Friday, April 18th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.55.

Global Payments Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $81.93 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.51. The stock has a market cap of $19.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.93 and a 1-year high of $120.00.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.33% and a net margin of 15.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.59 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 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.