Bank of Montreal Can Cuts Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Bank of Montreal Can lowered its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 9.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,218,329 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 124,041 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can owned 0.48% of Global Payments worth $136,526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $330,516,000 after acquiring an additional 349,457 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at $349,000. Oribel Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 495.1% in the fourth quarter. Oribel Capital Management LP now owns 521,300 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $58,417,000 after purchasing an additional 433,700 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its stake in Global Payments by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 106.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 50,705 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,682,000 after buying an additional 26,104 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

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Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN stock traded up $1.75 on Friday, hitting $84.99. The company had a trading volume of 2,832,818 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,242,705. The firm has a market cap of $20.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.83 and a twelve month high of $127.66. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $98.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GPN. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays decreased their target price on Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $122.00 price objective (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $130.52.

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.