Global Payments Inc. $GPN Position Lessened by Korea Investment CORP

Key Points

• Korea Investment CORP reduced its stake in Global Payments Inc. by 14.0% in Q1, now holding approximately 152,093 shares worth $14.89 million.
• Several institutional investors increased their positions in Global Payments, with Pzena Investment Management raising its stake by 0.4% and UBS AM boosting theirs by 40.8%.
• Global Payments announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25, yielding 1.2%, payable on September 26th to stockholders of record on September 12th.

Korea Investment CORP lowered its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 14.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 152,093 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 24,700 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.06% of Global Payments worth $14,893,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 33,902 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,795,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 3.8% in the first quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,932 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 7.9% in the first quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,135 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 4.1% in the first quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 4,342 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $425,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 10,382 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,163,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Global Payments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Global Payments from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. TD Cowen downgraded Global Payments from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $112.21.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the general counsel owned 30,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,641,318. This trade represents a 6.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $87.99. The company had a trading volume of 1,641,337 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,665,013. The stock has a market cap of $21.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.38, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.93. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.93 and a 12 month high of $120.00. 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 firm's 50 day simple moving average is $82.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.63.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for 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 was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.48%.

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.