Whipplewood Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 5,252.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 17,556 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 17,228 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC's holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,719,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Global Payments by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,800,952,000 after purchasing an additional 179,195 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $929,969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,230,322 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $696,362,000 after acquiring an additional 301,877 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at about $345,823,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Global Payments by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,906,444 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $325,698,000 after purchasing an additional 259,590 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN traded down $0.71 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $75.98. 1,595,032 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,468,335. The business's fifty day moving average price is $79.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.64. The company has a market cap of $18.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.29, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.93 and a 12-month high of $120.00.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.59 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. Global Payments's payout ratio is 16.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GPN. KeyCorp raised their target price on Global Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Cowen downgraded shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. TD Cowen cut shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Global Payments in a research note on Monday. They issued a "hold" rating and a $79.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Global Payments from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $110.91.

Global Payments 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.