Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by Stephens Inc. AR

Stephens Inc. AR reduced its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 52.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,195 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 5,831 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR's holdings in Global Payments were worth $509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments in the first quarter valued at about $224,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments in the first quarter valued at about $72,000. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in Global Payments by 0.6% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 36,634 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,587,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Global Payments by 11.8% in the first quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 9,039 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $885,000 after purchasing an additional 951 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI grew its stake in Global Payments by 1.9% in the first quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 14,760 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,445,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Global Payments Trading Down 1.3%

NYSE:GPN traded down $1.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $81.93. The company had a trading volume of 2,303,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,510,897. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a 50-day moving average of $78.68 and a 200 day moving average of $90.51. The company has a market cap of $19.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.94. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.93 and a 1 year high of $120.00.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.20 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.33% and a net margin of 15.48%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.59 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Global Payments's payout ratio is 16.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GPN shares. Wolfe Research restated a "peer perform" rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Global Payments from $145.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Global Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. TD Cowen upgraded Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $84.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Monday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $111.55.

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.