Cozad Asset Management Inc. Lowers Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 86.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,154 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 34,084 shares during the period. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $528,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 194.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,423,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $621,149,000 after purchasing an additional 4,240,388 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Global Payments by 188.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $109,857,000 after purchasing an additional 755,898 shares in the last quarter. Natixis raised its holdings in Global Payments by 830.2% in the first quarter. Natixis now owns 589,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $78,795,000 after buying an additional 526,143 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its holdings in Global Payments by 267.0% in the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 677,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $90,602,000 after buying an additional 493,164 shares during the period. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Global Payments by 316.7% during the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 609,939 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $58,981,000 after buying an additional 463,568 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPN has been the subject of several recent research reports. B. Riley dropped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $204.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Global Payments from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. William Blair cut Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. BNP Paribas raised Global Payments to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt dropped their target price on Global Payments from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $136.50.

Global Payments Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $111.92 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.08, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $104.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $91.60 and a 52-week high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 13.61%. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.83%.

Global Payments Company 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.