Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by PFG Investments LLC

PFG Investments LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 39.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,590 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,656 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $250,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,501 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $572,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth $278,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 139.3% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,750 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 2,765 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 3,553 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 9,011 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,144,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $158.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $124.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.96.

Global Payments Stock Up 1.2 %

Global Payments stock opened at $110.44 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $91.60 and a one year high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 11.93%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.84%.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In related 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

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.