S&CO Inc. Has $401,000 Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

S&CO Inc. cut its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 38.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,242 shares during the quarter. S&CO Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Global Payments by 65.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $203,047,000 after purchasing an additional 785,539 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 1,559.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 548,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $61,502,000 after buying an additional 515,763 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of 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 worth $271,090,000 after acquiring an additional 490,411 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $53,700,000. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter worth approximately $47,113,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. bought 5,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Global Payments Trading Down 3.7 %

NYSE GPN opened at $97.06 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.70, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $107.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.63. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.60 and a 12 month high of $140.38.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. On average, analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays decreased their price target on Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus 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.