Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Cuts Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Key Points

• The Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund reduced its holdings in Global Payments Inc. by 13.0%, now owning 44,260 shares valued at approximately $4.33 million.
• Significant analyst upgrades were reported, with several brokerages raising their price targets for Global Payments, suggesting a bullish outlook on the stock.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share to be paid on September 26th, reflecting a 1.2% yield.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund reduced its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 13.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 44,260 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 6,600 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings in Global Payments were worth $4,334,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Global Payments in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Global Payments by 546.6% in the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 375 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new stake in Global Payments in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $172,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 30,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,641,318. The trade was a 6.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN traded up $3.34 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $89.06. 495,133 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,794,344. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $81.20 and a 200-day moving average of $86.23. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $65.93 and a one year high of $120.00. The firm has a market cap of $21.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.59, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.04. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.47% and a net margin of 15.07%.The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.93 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Global Payments's payout ratio is presently 17.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on GPN shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Mizuho upgraded Global Payments from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $86.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $112.21.

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.