Independence Asset Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Key Points

• Independence Asset Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments Inc., purchasing 26,179 shares; this stake is valued at approximately $2,095,000 and constitutes about 1.3% of their investment portfolio.
• Several institutional investors, including Pzena Investment Management LLC, have also significantly increased their holdings in Global Payments, with Pzena boosting its stake by 32.6%.
• Global Payments recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 1.2%, with a payout ratio of 17.48%.

Independence Asset Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 26,179 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,095,000. Global Payments makes up about 1.3% of Independence Asset Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in Global Payments by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 227,271 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $18,191,000 after buying an additional 3,492 shares during the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 194.3% in the 2nd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 53,896 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,314,000 after buying an additional 35,583 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 9.3% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 84,190 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $6,739,000 after acquiring an additional 7,161 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 0.5% in the second quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 33,587 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,688,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Global Payments by 32.6% in the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,050,253 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $884,462,000 after purchasing an additional 2,716,156 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on GPN. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $100.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Global Payments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Global Payments from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $103.75.

Global Payments Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $85.40 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.93 and a 52-week high of $120.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $20.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.79.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. The business'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 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. Global Payments's payout ratio is currently 17.48%.

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.

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