Sciencast Management LP Makes New $3.55 Million Investment in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Key Points

• Sciencast Management LP has made a new investment of approximately $3.55 million in Global Payments Inc., acquiring 36,211 shares in the first quarter of the year.
• Global Payments has received various analyst upgrades, with price targets raised by firms such as Truist Financial and UBS Group, with the current consensus target price at $112.21.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.1%, reflecting a 17.48% payout ratio.

Sciencast Management LP bought a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 36,211 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,546,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $725,000. Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Global Payments by 14.1% in the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,248 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,941,000 after acquiring an additional 3,240 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in Global Payments by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 24,953 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,796,000 after acquiring an additional 3,892 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in Global Payments by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 25,738 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,884,000 after acquiring an additional 1,798 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nineteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $112.21.

Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE:GPN opened at $87.69 on Monday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $83.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.41. 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. The firm has a market cap of $21.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.04. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 12.47%. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. Global Payments's quarterly revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be given 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 presently 17.48%.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In related 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 value of $172,000.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 30,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,641,318. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

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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