Signaturefd LLC Raises Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,158 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $426,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 1.7% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 25,821 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,645,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 9.4% in the third quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,582 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 59.6% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 383 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter valued at about $142,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 19.0% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 396,658 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,626,000 after acquiring an additional 63,240 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GPN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. William Blair downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $112.00 in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the company’s 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE GPN opened at $99.13 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.30 billion, a PE ratio of 19.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a fifty day moving average of $105.50 and a 200 day moving average of $105.22. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.60 and a 1 year high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.