William Blair Investment Management LLC Takes Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 4,460 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $431,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 1.9% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,752 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $635,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its stake in Global Payments by 30.9% in the 1st quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 453 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 0.3% during the first quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 34,435 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,603,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 54.5% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,087.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GPN. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $152.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 21st. Stephens decreased their target price on Global Payments from $145.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $100.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com cut Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $157.00 to $147.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.96.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of GPN opened at $111.05 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 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 fifty day moving average price of $104.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $110.49. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 11.93%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.48 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given 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 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.