Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 41.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 27,313 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 18,963 shares during the quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $3,061,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GPN. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $203,047,000 after acquiring an additional 785,539 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position 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 worth $61,502,000 after purchasing an additional 515,763 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 490,411 shares during the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at $47,113,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 925.5% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 417,832 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $42,794,000 after purchasing an additional 377,087 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN opened at $105.65 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.16 and a two-hundred 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 1-year low of $91.60 and a 1-year high of $140.38. The stock has a market cap of $26.16 billion, a PE ratio of 17.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 12.08 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 16.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 target price (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.