Venturi Wealth Management LLC Purchases 2,425 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 455.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,958 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,425 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $331,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Global Payments in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in Global Payments by 59.6% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 383 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter worth about $50,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPN has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America cut their price objective 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, Stephens cut Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.33.

Insider Activity

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE GPN opened at $105.65 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $91.60 and a one year high of $140.38.

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 company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. Research analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 12.08 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, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.18%.

About Global Payments

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.