Blair William & Co. IL Reduces Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Blair William & Co. IL lessened its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 62.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 31,958 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 52,169 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $3,090,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in Global Payments in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 54.5% during the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 154.7% in the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 354 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on GPN shares. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Global Payments to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $147.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $158.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $142.59.

Global Payments Trading Down 2.0 %

GPN opened at $110.69 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $105.52 and a 200 day moving average of $110.01. 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 12 month low of $91.60 and a 12 month high of $141.77. The firm has a market cap of $28.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.98.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 14.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.48 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. 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.