Gradient Investments LLC Sells 161,760 Shares of Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Key Points

• Gradient Investments LLC significantly reduced its stake in Global Payments Inc. by selling 161,760 shares, resulting in ownership of just 17,641 shares post-sale.
• Global Payments has reported a quarterly earnings EPS of $3.10, exceeding analysts' estimates of $3.06, while maintaining a revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, with an annualized yield of 1.2%, scheduled for payment on September 26th.

Gradient Investments LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 90.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 17,641 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 161,760 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC's holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,412,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Global Payments by 36.7% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,292 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 7.6% during the second quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 8,896 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $712,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the period. Sage Capital Advisors llc boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 1.1% during the second quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 28,593 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,289,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Private Client Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the second quarter worth approximately $1,059,000. Finally, AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the first quarter worth approximately $1,149,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $172,000.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 30,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,641,318. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN opened at $84.29 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.97. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $84.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.68. 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 Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.36 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 12.47%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is 17.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GPN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $100.00 price target (up from $90.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nineteen have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $112.21.

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.

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