Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 44.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,598 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 28,180 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Global Payments were worth $3,345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Cibc World Markets Corp grew its holdings in Global Payments by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 82,672 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,499,000 after purchasing an additional 18,615 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 12.3% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 267,483 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,775,000 after acquiring an additional 29,289 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 8.8% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 302,364 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,414,000 after acquiring an additional 24,415 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Global Payments from $164.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Global Payments from $172.00 to $158.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. BTIG Research downgraded Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. One equities 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.36.

Global Payments Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $101.02 on Monday. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $91.60 and a twelve month high of $141.77. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $105.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.79 billion, a PE 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 data on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.48 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 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.