Strs Ohio Increases Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Key Points

• Strs Ohio nearly doubled its stake in Global Payments during the first quarter, buying 39,346 additional shares to bring its total holdings to 79,617 shares worth about $5.36 million.
• Institutional ownership remains heavy, with hedge funds and other institutions now controlling 89.76% of Global Payments shares after several firms added to or initiated positions.
• Global Payments beat earnings expectations in its latest quarter, reporting $2.96 EPS on revenue of $2.86 billion, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Hold with an average price target of $83.87.

Strs Ohio lifted its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 97.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 79,617 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 39,346 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio's holdings in Global Payments were worth $5,358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $725,000. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the first quarter valued at approximately $243,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 43.5% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 14,462 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,416,000 after purchasing an additional 4,386 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 7.3% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 41,577 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $3,327,000 after purchasing an additional 2,840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AXA S.A. raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 236.6% during the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 28,622 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,291,000 after purchasing an additional 20,119 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on GPN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Global Payments in a report on Monday, March 9th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $88.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Global Payments in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. BTIG Research reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $83.87.

Global Payments Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of GPN stock traded up $1.39 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $78.80. 282,167 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,710,490. The stock has a market cap of $21.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.59, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.16 and a fifty-two week high of $90.64. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.17.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.82 by $0.14. Global Payments had a positive return on equity of 13.11% and a negative net margin of 7.99%.The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.82 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 63.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Global Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.800-14.000 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 13.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is currently -49.02%.

Global Payments Profile

Global Payments Inc NYSE: GPN is a worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions that enables commerce for merchants, issuers and enterprises. The company develops and operates payment processing networks, point-of-sale systems and cloud-based software that facilitate electronic transactions across in-store, online and mobile channels. Its services span merchant acquiring, payment gateway services, omnichannel commerce platforms, and solutions for recurring and subscription billing.

Global Payments offers a range of products and services including integrated payment terminals and point-of-sale software, e-commerce and gateway technologies, fraud prevention and tokenization tools, and business analytics and reporting.

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