Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by Nisa Investment Advisors LLC

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 93,258 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 9,137 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $9,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 54.5% during the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its position in Global Payments by 154.7% during the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 354 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 34,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 7,369 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GPN. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $182.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI cut their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $100.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Global Payments from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on Global Payments from $129.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.20.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN stock traded up $1.07 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $109.90. 1,235,457 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,301,254. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $114.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.98. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.60 and a 12 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.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 13.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.48 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 19.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now 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 through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

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.