Harbor Investment Advisory LLC Has $676,000 Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 24.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,057 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 983 shares during the quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $676,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter valued at approximately $229,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter valued at approximately $179,000. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 18.2% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 70,889 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,180,000 after purchasing an additional 10,930 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 7.6% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 29,046 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,352,000 after purchasing an additional 2,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 2.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,835,335 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $327,169,000 after purchasing an additional 70,615 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $143.00 to $128.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $163.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $129.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $160.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $146.39.

Global Payments Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $97.05 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $122.28. The firm has a market cap of $24.77 billion, a PE ratio of 19.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.98. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.60 and a 1 year high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.17 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.40% and a return on equity of 11.72%. On average, research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.08 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 19.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Andrea M. Carter sold 3,300 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.34, for a total value of $367,422.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 25,209 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,806,770.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

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.