SG Americas Securities LLC Acquires 1,515,131 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 75,379.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,517,141 shares of the business services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,515,131 shares during the quarter. Global Payments comprises approximately 0.5% of SG Americas Securities LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. SG Americas Securities LLC owned 0.62% of Global Payments worth $148,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Global Payments during the first quarter valued at $30,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. purchased a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research reissued a "peer perform" rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, April 18th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $86.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $110.91.

Global Payments Trading Down 1.8%

GPN stock traded down $1.42 during trading on Thursday, reaching $78.21. The company had a trading volume of 2,702,278 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,479,158. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.93 and a 52 week high of $120.00. The business has a 50 day moving average of $78.30 and a 200 day moving average of $97.35. The company has a market cap of $19.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.66, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.93.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.59 EPS. The business's revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.13%.

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.