JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 122,422 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lessened its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 22.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 425,167 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 122,422 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $47,644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GPN. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Global Payments by 17.0% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 11,017 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Global Payments during the third quarter worth about $270,000. Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its position in Global Payments by 46.7% during the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 8,480 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $869,000 after buying an additional 2,700 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments in the third quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 2.7% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 104,808 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,734,000 after buying an additional 2,730 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Global Payments from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 price target (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.10.

Global Payments Trading Down 8.8 %

Shares of GPN stock opened at $84.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.50 and a fifty-two week high of $129.35. The company has a market cap of $20.85 billion, a PE ratio of 13.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $102.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $106.79.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. Equities analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 16.18%.

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.