Empowered Funds LLC Raises Stake in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 231.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,381 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 21,204 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,045,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Gtcr LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments during the first quarter worth about $2,911,939,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at about $276,014,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 112.3% in the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,281,476 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $189,545,000 after buying an additional 1,206,807 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 5,710.5% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 941,299 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $72,857,000 after buying an additional 925,099 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 93.8% during the 4th quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,412,128 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $109,299,000 after buying an additional 683,524 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Global Payments

Here are the key news stories impacting Global Payments this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly earnings exceeded expectations: Global Payments reported adjusted EPS of $3.46, ahead of the roughly $3.44–$3.45 consensus and up from $3.10 a year earlier. Adjusted net revenue was approximately $3.16 billion, broadly in line with estimates, while Genius platform adoption helped support earnings growth. Global Payments Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Genius Platform Momentum
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts raised their price targets: UBS lifted its target to $91 from $80, Goldman Sachs increased its target to $94 from $82, and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised its target to $95 from $76. However, all three firms retained neutral or market-perform ratings, indicating limited conviction in substantial near-term outperformance.
• Positive Sentiment: Shareholder returns remain supportive: The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, payable September 25 to shareholders of record September 11. Global Payments also reported returning approximately $1.2 billion of capital to shareholders year to date.
• Neutral Sentiment: Revenue growth was boosted by the recent acquisition structure: Reported revenue rose 68.6% year over year to $3.32 billion, but normalized adjusted net revenue growth was approximately 4%, making underlying organic growth a key focus for investors. Global Payments Q2 revenue rises to $3.32 billion
• Negative Sentiment: Full-year guidance was reduced: Global Payments forecast 2026 adjusted EPS of $13.60–$13.80, slightly below the $13.84 consensus, and expects normalized constant-currency adjusted net revenue growth of about 4%–5%. Management cited the Middle East conflict’s impact on travel spending, creating concern about transaction volumes and near-term growth. Global Payments cuts annual forecasts as Middle East conflict hits travel spending

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Global Payments from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Global Payments from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Stephens set a $80.00 target price on Global Payments and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $96.00 price target (up from $82.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Global Payments from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $90.68.

Global Payments Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $87.75 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.16 and a twelve month high of $90.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.00 billion, a PE ratio of -29.45, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.74.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The business services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.02. Global Payments had a positive return on equity of 13.80% and a negative net margin of 9.16%.The firm had revenue of $3.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.10 EPS. Global Payments's revenue was up 68.6% on a year-over-year basis. Global Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.600-13.800 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 13.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is currently -49.02%.

Global Payments Company Profile

Global Payments Inc NYSE: GPN is a worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions that enables commerce for merchants, issuers and enterprises. The company develops and operates payment processing networks, point-of-sale systems and cloud-based software that facilitate electronic transactions across in-store, online and mobile channels. Its services span merchant acquiring, payment gateway services, omnichannel commerce platforms, and solutions for recurring and subscription billing.

Global Payments offers a range of products and services including integrated payment terminals and point-of-sale software, e-commerce and gateway technologies, fraud prevention and tokenization tools, and business analytics and reporting.

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