Welch Group LLC Lowers Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Welch Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 33.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,289 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,688 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $542,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stanley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 18.9% during the second quarter. Stanley Capital Management LLC now owns 125,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,146,000 after buying an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in Global Payments by 12.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 29,289 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the first quarter worth $32,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its position in Global Payments by 8.8% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 302,364 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,414,000 after purchasing an additional 24,415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC grew its holdings in Global Payments by 20.6% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 172,939 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,723,000 after purchasing an additional 29,503 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GPN shares. William Blair downgraded Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. BTIG Research lowered Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $147.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.65.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the business’s 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 owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,087.63. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE GPN traded up $0.87 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $100.00. The company had a trading volume of 217,177 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,248,245. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $105.31 and its 200 day moving average is $104.71. The company has a market capitalization of $25.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.98. 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 current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly 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. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.48 EPS. Global Payments’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.32%.

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.