Swiss National Bank Raises Holdings in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Key Points

• Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Global Payments by 5.1% in the first quarter, holding 698,451 shares worth about $47 million at quarter-end.
• Several other institutional investors also made large moves in GPN, and hedge funds and other institutions now own 89.76% of the company’s shares.
• Global Payments reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $2.96 and revenue of $2.86 billion, while analysts currently rate the stock a Hold with an average target price of $83.33.

Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 698,451 shares of the business services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 33,600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.25% of Global Payments worth $47,006,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth about $276,014,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Global Payments by 112.3% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,281,476 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $189,545,000 after buying an additional 1,206,807 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 5,710.5% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 941,299 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $72,857,000 after buying an additional 925,099 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in Global Payments by 93.8% during the fourth quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,412,128 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $109,299,000 after buying an additional 683,524 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Global Payments by 117.3% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,207,277 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $93,443,000 after buying an additional 651,671 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GPN. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Global Payments from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Argus cut their target price on Global Payments from $100.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Stephens set a $80.00 price target on Global Payments and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Global Payments has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $83.33.

Global Payments Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of GPN opened at $79.07 on Thursday. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $71.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.16 and a 1 year high of $90.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.63 billion, a PE ratio of -38.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.76.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.14. Global Payments had a negative net margin of 7.99% and a positive return on equity of 13.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business 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. Analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 13.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Global Payments's payout ratio is -49.02%.

Global Payments Company 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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