Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by Bleakley Financial Group LLC

Bleakley Financial Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 4.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,835 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 124 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $290,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in Global Payments during the first quarter worth about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the first quarter worth about $32,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the second quarter worth about $32,000. North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its stake in 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. Finally, Quarry LP increased its stake in Global Payments by 134.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 511 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. William Blair cut Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $147.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Global Payments currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.65.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN stock opened at $99.88 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $25.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.98. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.60 and a 12 month high of $141.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $105.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $105.26.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Global Payments Company 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.