Versor Investments LP Decreases Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Key Points

• Versor Investments LP has reduced its stake in Global Payments Inc. by 72.7%, selling 6,404 shares, leaving them with 2,401 shares valued at approximately $235,000.
• Global Payments reported an EPS of $3.10 for the latest quarter, surpassing analyst expectations, with revenue holding steady at $2.36 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25, with an annualized yield of 1.1%, to be paid on September 26th to shareholders on record as of September 12th.

Versor Investments LP cut its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 72.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,401 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 6,404 shares during the quarter. Versor Investments LP's holdings in Global Payments were worth $235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 75,379.7% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,517,141 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $148,558,000 after purchasing an additional 1,515,131 shares in the last quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth about $147,695,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $94,107,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 346.9% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 912,667 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $89,368,000 after acquiring an additional 708,451 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 40.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,656,830 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $185,664,000 after acquiring an additional 479,791 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Global Payments news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $172,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 30,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,641,318. This trade represents a 6.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on GPN. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating and set a $100.00 price target (up from $90.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Global Payments from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $112.21.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.4%

GPN stock traded down $0.31 during trading on Thursday, hitting $87.53. 221,824 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,772,474. The stock has a market cap of $21.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.93 and a 1 year high of $120.00. The firm's 50 day moving average is $82.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.63.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.04. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 12.47%. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is 17.48%.

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.