Leeward Investments LLC MA Cuts Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Leeward Investments LLC MA decreased its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 112,726 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 29,184 shares during the period. Leeward Investments LLC MA’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $11,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $841,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Global Payments by 1.2% in the second quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 11,588 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,121,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 3,180 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $425,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 59.6% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 383 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 31.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 645 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on GPN. Oppenheimer began coverage on Global Payments in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. William Blair lowered Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. B. Riley lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $204.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $164.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $136.50.

Global Payments Stock Up 7.1 %

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $115.04 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $104.58 and a 200-day moving average of $103.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.66, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.60 and a 12 month high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.48 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 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.