Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI Makes New Investment in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,055 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stanley Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 18.9% during the 2nd quarter. Stanley Capital Management LLC now owns 125,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,146,000 after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 12.3% during the 1st 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 during the period. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 8.8% during the 1st 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 during the period. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 20.6% during the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 172,939 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,723,000 after acquiring an additional 29,503 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Global Payments from $126.00 to $122.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. BTIG Research lowered shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Global Payments to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the completion of 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.4 %

Global Payments stock opened at $99.53 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $105.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.26. The company has a market capitalization of $25.41 billion, a PE ratio of 19.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.98.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.84%.

Global Payments Company 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.