Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Purchased by Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN – Get Rating) by 14.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,617 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,111 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $856,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GPN. Echo Street Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Global Payments by 79.6% during the 3rd quarter. Echo Street Capital Management LLC now owns 2,676,292 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $289,173,000 after purchasing an additional 1,186,038 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 48.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,098,234 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $305,579,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004,286 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Global Payments by 93.8% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,061,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $114,743,000 after purchasing an additional 514,006 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 35.9% in the fourth quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 1,538,393 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $152,793,000 after purchasing an additional 406,714 shares during the period. Finally, Pendal Group Ltd increased its stake in Global Payments by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Pendal Group Ltd now owns 1,329,782 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $132,074,000 after purchasing an additional 271,863 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,562 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.08, for a total value of $176,630.96. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,169,858.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of GPN stock opened at $101.96 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -216.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.00. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $92.27 and a fifty-two week high of $136.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.09. Global Payments had a negative net margin of 1.58% and a positive return on equity of 10.67%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.97 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 9.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently -212.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on GPN. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $160.00 to $156.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Mizuho lowered their target price on Global Payments from $120.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, May 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Global Payments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $127.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Monday, February 13th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Global Payments from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $146.30.

About Global Payments

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Global Payments, Inc engages in the provision of payment technology and software solutions. It operates through the following segments: Merchant Solutions, Issuer Solutions and Business & Consumer Solutions. The Merchant Solutions segment provides payments technology and software solutions to customers globally.