Carlson Capital L.P. Takes $490,000 Position in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Key Points

• Carlson Capital L.P. acquired a new position in Global Payments Inc., purchasing 5,000 shares worth approximately $490,000, making it the firm's 26th largest holding.
• Global Payments announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, representing a 1.1% yield with a payout ratio of 17.48%.
• The company reported an EPS of $3.10 for the last quarter, surpassing consensus estimates and showing a revenue growth of 1.6% compared to the previous year.

Carlson Capital L.P. bought a new position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 5,000 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $490,000. Global Payments comprises approximately 0.2% of Carlson Capital L.P.'s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new stake in Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Global Payments in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Global Payments by 546.6% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 375 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new position in Global Payments during the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Global Payments from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. TD Cowen lowered Global Payments from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Mizuho upgraded Global Payments from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $86.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Global Payments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Global Payments from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $112.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $172,000.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 30,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,641,318. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.7%

Global Payments stock traded up $0.66 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $88.88. 1,818,326 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,620,473. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $65.93 and a one year high of $120.00. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $82.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.19. The company has a market cap of $21.56 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.04. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 12.47%. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.93 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.48%.

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.