Northern Trust Corp Sells 14,900 Shares of Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Northern Trust Corp lowered its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,715,571 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 14,900 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $265,909,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. boosted its stake in Global Payments by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 33,902 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,795,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,135 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 4,342 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $425,000 after buying an additional 171 shares during the period. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC increased its position in Global Payments by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 10,382 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,163,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Global Payments news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were 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 directly owned 30,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,641,318. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GPN. Mizuho raised Global Payments from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $86.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Global Payments from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $100.00 price target (up previously from $90.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $84.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.21.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $85.81 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $81.05 and its 200 day moving average is $86.40. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.93 and a 12-month high of $120.00. The stock has a market cap of $20.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.00, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.04. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.47% and a net margin of 15.07%.The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. Global Payments’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.48%.

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.