Raymond James Financial Inc. Has $43.19 Million Holdings in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. has reduced its stake in Global Payments Inc. by 8.0%, now holding 441,018 shares valued at approximately $43.2 million.
• Analysts maintain a generally bullish outlook for Global Payments, with multiple firms raising their target prices and a majority of analysts rating the stock as a Buy.
• Global Payments announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, representing a 1.1% yield, with a payout ratio of 17.48% as of the latest filing.

Raymond James Financial Inc. cut its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 8.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 441,018 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 38,188 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.18% of Global Payments worth $43,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GPN. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 0.4% during the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,334,097 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $816,075,000 after purchasing an additional 35,251 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,906,444 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $325,698,000 after purchasing an additional 259,590 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Global Payments by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,730,471 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $305,977,000 after purchasing an additional 305,987 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Global Payments by 2.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,955,393 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $191,451,000 after purchasing an additional 49,029 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 40.8% during the fourth 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 worth $185,664,000 after purchasing an additional 479,791 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In related news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the company'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 directly owned 30,713 shares in the company, valued at $2,641,318. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

Global Payments Price Performance

GPN stock traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $87.53. The company had a trading volume of 221,824 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,772,474. The company has a market capitalization of $21.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $82.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.63. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.93 and a 1-year 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.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.04. The firm 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 quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.93 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. Global Payments's payout ratio is 17.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $100.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. TD Cowen cut shares of Global Payments from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Global Payments from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Mizuho raised Global Payments from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $86.00 to $114.00 in a report on Friday, July 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nineteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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.