Bank of Nova Scotia Cuts Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its holding in Global Payments Inc. by 73.2% in the first quarter, owning 74,097 shares valued at $7,256,000 after selling 201,943 shares.
• Despite this reduction, other institutional investors increased their stakes significantly, with SG Americas Securities LLC lifting its stake by over 75,379.7%, now owning 1,517,141 shares valued at $148,558,000.
• Global Payments reported an earnings per share of $2.82 for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations of $2.73 while revenue remained steady at $2.20 billion.

Bank of Nova Scotia lessened its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 73.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 74,097 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 201,943 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in Global Payments were worth $7,256,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 75,379.7% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,517,141 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $148,558,000 after purchasing an additional 1,515,131 shares during the last quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth approximately $147,695,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 40.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,656,830 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $185,664,000 after buying an additional 479,791 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth approximately $53,700,000. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 88.6% in the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 892,958 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $100,065,000 after buying an additional 419,443 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Global Payments Stock Up 1.2%

GPN stock opened at $78.95 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $19.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.93. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.93 and a 52 week high of $120.00. The company's 50-day moving average price is $79.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.73 by $0.09. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.33% and a net margin of 15.48%. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.59 earnings per share. Global Payments's quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Global Payments's payout ratio is currently 16.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GPN. B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Global Payments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho raised Global Payments from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $86.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Global Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $111.65.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GPN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.