Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC Lowers Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,532 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 633 shares during the period. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,180,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Global Payments by 1,559.6% in 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 buying an additional 515,763 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Global Payments by 22.7% during the third 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 last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,700,000. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter worth approximately $47,113,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. acquired 5,800 shares of Global Payments 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 purchase, the director now owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Global Payments Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:GPN opened at $100.79 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.31, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. 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. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $107.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.72.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. As a group, analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 0.99%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is presently 16.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GPN shares. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America decreased 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. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 target price (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Global Payments currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.33.

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.