Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Stock Position Decreased by Novare Capital Management LLC

Novare Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 2.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,840 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 190 shares during the period. Novare Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GPN. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the first quarter worth $31,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 54.5% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 154.7% in the first 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. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. William Blair upgraded Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $158.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $152.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Global Payments from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $157.00 to $147.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Global Payments currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.71.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN traded down $0.45 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $110.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 278,950 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,238,859. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $91.60 and a twelve month high of $141.77. The stock has a market cap of $28.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 11.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.48 EPS. Research analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is presently 19.84%.

Global Payments 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.