Callahan Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Callahan Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,897 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 4,401 shares during the period. Callahan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $9,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter worth $25,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter worth $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter worth $33,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 59.6% in 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 during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter worth $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. bought 5,800 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $116.00 per share, with a total value 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Stephens lowered shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. One research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $135.76.

Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE:GPN opened at $105.67 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $110.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $26.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.01. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $91.60 and a twelve month high of $141.77.

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 11.94% and a net margin of 13.61%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.83%.

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.