Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Decreases Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board cut its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 22.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 260,611 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 77,621 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.10% of Global Payments worth $29,204,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GPN. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 177.5% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 469 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 374.2% during the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 569 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Down 17.4 %

Shares of GPN stock opened at $69.50 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.93. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.48 and a fifty-two week high of $127.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.44%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on GPN shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America lowered their target price on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $75.00 price target on Global Payments in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $124.73.

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.