Choreo LLC Purchases New Shares in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Choreo LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,524 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $337,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in Global Payments during the first quarter worth about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 54.5% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its position in Global Payments by 154.7% during the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 354 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Global Payments from $172.00 to $158.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $111.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Global Payments to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $147.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.96.

Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE:GPN opened at $112.07 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $104.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $110.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.61 billion, a PE ratio of 22.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.98. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $91.60 and a 52-week high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results 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. Global Payments had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 11.93%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.48 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $2,068,087.63. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Global Payments

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.