Sound Income Strategies LLC Increases Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 15.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,062 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,076 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $5,834,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 3.4% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,638,862 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $679,952,000 after acquiring an additional 215,399 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,928,445 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $605,078,000 after purchasing an additional 31,934 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,499,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $564,437,000 after purchasing an additional 83,481 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $330,516,000 after purchasing an additional 349,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Global Payments by 22.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $271,090,000 after buying an additional 490,411 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN opened at $107.76 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $113.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.40. The company has a market capitalization of $27.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.00. 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 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. acquired 5,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,957,608. This represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on GPN. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Stephens downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price objective (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $135.71.

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.