Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Sells 709 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 18.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,068 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 709 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $314,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cromwell Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments in the third quarter worth $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in Global Payments during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in Global Payments by 59.6% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 383 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.7 %

Global Payments stock opened at $104.44 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $26.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.67, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.60 and a 12 month high of $141.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 13.61%. Global Payments’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.48 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. BTIG Research cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $126.00 to $122.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com cut Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a 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 target price of $136.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In related news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total value of $166,305.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,068,087.63. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

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.