7,035 Shares in Global Payments Inc. $GPN Purchased by Graham Capital Management L.P.

Key Points

• Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired 7,035 shares of Global Payments Inc., valued at approximately $689,000, during the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors have increased their stakes in Global Payments, with Baird Financial Group lifting their position by 14.1% and Captrust Financial Advisors by 18.5% in the same period.
• Global Payments announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25, representing a 1.1% yield, to be paid on September 26th to investors of record on September 12th.

Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 7,035 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $689,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 75,379.7% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,517,141 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $148,558,000 after buying an additional 1,515,131 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $94,107,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 346.9% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 912,667 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $89,368,000 after buying an additional 708,451 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 40.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,656,830 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $185,664,000 after buying an additional 479,791 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 17,136.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 365,063 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $35,747,000 after buying an additional 362,945 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $172,000.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 30,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,641,318. This trade represents a 6.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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

Global Payments stock traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $87.43. 1,782,257 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,754,552. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $83.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.41. The company has a market capitalization of $21.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.29, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.96. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.47% and a net margin of 15.07%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share 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 given a $0.25 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 17.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GPN. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $100.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, August 7th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Truist Financial lifted 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. Wall Street Zen raised Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, TD Cowen cut Global Payments from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nineteen have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target 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.