ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 21.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,346 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,686 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $806,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of GPN. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1.3% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,819,457 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,138,638,000 after buying an additional 134,403 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 40.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,525,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703,434 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 40.5% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,613,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481,714 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 24.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,518,268 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $370,263,000 after buying an additional 698,913 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Global Payments by 3.4% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,499,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $403,849,000 after acquiring an additional 116,664 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Global Payments stock traded down $0.08 on Friday, reaching $122.10. The company had a trading volume of 1,065,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,823,207. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $130.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.23. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $95.12 and a 1 year high of $141.77. The firm has a market cap of $31.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is 26.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. B. Riley raised their target price on Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $151.92.

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.