Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. Invests $336,000 in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. acquired a new position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 3,277 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $336,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cromwell Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 59.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Global Payments from $158.00 to $143.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Global Payments from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.52.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,068,087.63. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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 Performance

NYSE GPN opened at $103.37 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $26.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $104.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $104.37. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $91.60 and a twelve month high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is presently 19.84%.

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.