Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 6,717 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $898,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 54.5% during the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. North Star Investment Management Corp. boosted its stake in Global Payments by 154.7% in the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 354 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Global Payments from $152.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 21st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $143.00 to $128.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com cut Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $163.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.32.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Global Payments news, VP Andrea M. Carter sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.34, for a total transaction of $367,422.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 25,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,806,770.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN traded up $2.45 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $101.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,734,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,310,278. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $91.60 and a 12-month high of $141.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $98.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $117.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.97, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.17 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 13.40%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.84%.

About Global Payments

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.