Envestnet Asset Management Inc. Acquires 17,597 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 652,394 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,597 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. owned 0.26% of Global Payments worth $63,086,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 1.9% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,752 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $635,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Global Payments by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $258,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its holdings in Global Payments by 30.9% during the first quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 453 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC grew its holdings in Global Payments by 0.3% during the first quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 34,435 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,603,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Finally, West Paces Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Global Payments by 54.5% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GPN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $111.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $124.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $158.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $142.59.

Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE GPN opened at $111.26 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $104.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $110.37. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.60 and a 1 year high of $141.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 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 (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 14.26%. Global Payments’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.48 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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.