Orbis Allan Gray Ltd Trims Position in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lessened its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 43.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,222,435 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,488,612 shares during the quarter. Global Payments comprises 1.8% of Orbis Allan Gray Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd owned approximately 1.32% of Global Payments worth $315,541,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Global Payments by 546.6% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 375 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT purchased a new position in Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Global Payments by 4,866.7% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 447 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TFC Financial Management Inc. grew its holdings in Global Payments by 9,580.0% during the 1st quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 484 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Global Payments from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 price objective (up previously from $90.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Global Payments has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.21.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of GPN opened at $88.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $21.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.93 and a 1 year high of $120.00.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.47% and a net margin of 15.07%.Global Payments’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.93 earnings per share. On average, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.48%.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was 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 owned 30,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,641,318. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.