Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Stock Position Decreased by Coho Partners Ltd.

Coho Partners Ltd. reduced its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 10.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 681,935 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 75,884 shares during the period. Global Payments comprises 2.5% of Coho Partners Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Coho Partners Ltd. owned 0.27% of Global Payments worth $69,844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GPN. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 194.2% during the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,423,463 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $621,149,000 after acquiring an additional 4,240,388 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in Global Payments by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,797,677 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $639,967,000 after purchasing an additional 12,196 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Global Payments by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,957,914 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $189,307,000 after purchasing an additional 193,137 shares during the last quarter. Davis Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter. Davis Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,300,000 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $125,710,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $109,857,000 after buying an additional 755,898 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Global Payments from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Monness Crespi & Hardt dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Tuesday. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, William Blair downgraded Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $137.65.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In related news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,068,087.63. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.98% of the company's stock.

Global Payments Price Performance

GPN stock traded down $0.35 during trading on Thursday, hitting $99.53. The company had a trading volume of 1,781,634 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,262,531. The business has a 50 day moving average of $105.69 and a 200 day moving average of $105.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 11.93%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.48 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is presently 19.84%.

About Global Payments

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.