Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 54.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,320 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 21,479 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased 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 worth $621,149,000 after acquiring an additional 4,240,388 shares during the period. Kodai Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $69,029,000. Natixis lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 830.2% in the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 589,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $78,795,000 after buying an additional 526,143 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 267.0% in the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 677,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $90,602,000 after buying an additional 493,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TimesSquare Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the first quarter worth $47,094,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on GPN shares. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock. William Blair upgraded shares of Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $111.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $147.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $142.59.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Global Payments stock opened at $110.99 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $105.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.88. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $91.60 and a 52 week high of $141.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.02, a PEG 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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. The company 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.48 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In related news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was 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 approximately $2,068,087.63. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.