Global Payments Inc. $GPN Shares Purchased by EP Wealth Advisors LLC

Key Points

• EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Global Payments Inc. by 3.9% in Q1, acquiring an additional 9,809 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 258,964 shares valued at $25.36 million.
• Investment analysts have varied opinions on Global Payments, with ten analysts rating the stock as a Buy and others assigning Hold and Sell ratings; the average price target is set at $112.21.
• Global Payments recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25, resulting in a 1.1% yield, with the payment date set for September 26th.

EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 3.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 258,964 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,809 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC owned 0.11% of Global Payments worth $25,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 4,866.7% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 447 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 1st quarter valued at $685,000. Argyle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Global Payments by 114.4% in the 1st quarter. Argyle Capital Management LLC now owns 18,305 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,792,000 after acquiring an additional 9,768 shares during the last quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Global Payments by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 282,933 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $31,705,000 after acquiring an additional 8,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Malaga Cove Capital LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 85.0% during the 1st quarter. Malaga Cove Capital LLC now owns 15,094 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,478,000 after acquiring an additional 6,933 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the firm'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 directly owned 30,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,641,318. This trade represents a 6.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Global Payments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Global Payments from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $86.00 to $114.00 in a report on Friday, July 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nineteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Global Payments has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $112.21.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN stock traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $87.69. 1,398,828 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,242,216. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.93 and a fifty-two week high of $120.00. The firm has a market cap of $21.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $83.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.71.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued 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 is presently 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.