Cozad Asset Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 86.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund 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 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Duality Advisers LP acquired a new position in Global Payments in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,431,000. Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 3.3% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 9,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,323,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 8.4% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 10,214 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 219.0% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,317 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,379,000 after purchasing an additional 7,083 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in Global Payments by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 59,368 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $7,935,000 after buying an additional 5,148 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on GPN. StockNews.com cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. BTIG Research lowered Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Global Payments from $164.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $136.50.

Global Payments Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of GPN stock opened at $111.92 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $91.60 and a twelve month high of $141.77. The company has a market capitalization of $28.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $104.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $103.83. 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 (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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.48 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

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