Amalgamated Bank Decreases Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Amalgamated Bank decreased its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 48,994 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,007 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $5,490,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Global Payments by 65.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $203,047,000 after purchasing an additional 785,539 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 1,559.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 548,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $61,502,000 after buying an additional 515,763 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $271,090,000 after acquiring an additional 490,411 shares during the period. Soros Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments in the 3rd quarter worth $47,113,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Global Payments by 925.5% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 417,832 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,794,000 after acquiring an additional 377,087 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In related news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,957,608. The trade was a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE GPN opened at $103.19 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $25.55 billion, a PE ratio of 16.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $91.60 and a 52 week high of $140.38.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GPN. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Stephens downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

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.