Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by Fred Alger Management LLC

Fred Alger Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 99.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 567 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 125,365 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $55,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 5.1% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,930 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 0.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted 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 valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. KFG Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 6.4% during the first quarter. KFG Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,883 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 0.9% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 13,859 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,776,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during 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 subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Global Payments from $172.00 to $158.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $147.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. William Blair cut Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Global Payments from $164.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on Global Payments from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.36.

Global Payments Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $101.02 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $105.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.52. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $91.60 and a 12-month high of $141.77. The firm has a market cap of $25.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.04, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.98.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.48 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 19.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the firm’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 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.