Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. cut its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,444 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,017 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,107,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GPN. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $365,933,000. Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $69,029,000. Natixis raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 830.2% during the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 589,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $78,795,000 after buying an additional 526,143 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 267.0% in the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 677,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $90,602,000 after acquiring an additional 493,164 shares during the period. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,192,227 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $278,413,000 after acquiring an additional 477,390 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GPN. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $157.00 to $147.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. William Blair raised shares of Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Stephens cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.71.

Global Payments Price Performance

NYSE GPN opened at $111.01 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $100.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.82. The company has a market cap of $28.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 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.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. The business 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 13.40% and a return on equity of 11.72%. Global Payments’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.48 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.09 EPS 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 issued a $0.25 dividend. 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 (DPR) is presently 19.84%.

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.