Weitz Investment Management Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Key Points

• Weitz Investment Management reduced its stake in Global Payments by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 45,000 shares and ending with 505,000 shares worth about $39.1 million.
• Global Payments reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $2.96 versus $2.82 expected and revenue of $2.86 billion versus $2.81 billion forecast. The company also raised its FY 2026 guidance to $13.80-$14.00 EPS.
• Despite the earnings beat, Wall Street sentiment remains cautious: analysts rate GPN a Hold on average, and the stock has a consensus price target of $84.73. The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, payable June 26.

Weitz Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 505,000 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 45,000 shares during the quarter. Global Payments accounts for about 2.3% of Weitz Investment Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Weitz Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.21% of Global Payments worth $39,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Traynor Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Global Payments by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,221 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $327,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 10,260 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $794,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 43.2% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 610 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 30,262 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,514,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 11,248 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $871,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Global Payments Stock Up 4.8%

NYSE:GPN opened at $65.45 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.09, a PEG ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 0.76. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.16 and a 1-year high of $90.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The business's fifty day moving average price is $68.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.11.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.81 billion. Global Payments had a positive return on equity of 13.11% and a negative net margin of 7.99%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 63.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.82 EPS. Global Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.800-14.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 13.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Global Payments's payout ratio is presently -49.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on GPN. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $74.00 target price (down from $86.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday. Raymond James Financial downgraded Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Argus reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $100.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research cut shares of Global Payments from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $90.00 to $76.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $84.73.

About Global Payments

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GPN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.