Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Cuts Position in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 18.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,750 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,987 shares during the period. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 209.2% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,093 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,128,000 after acquiring an additional 9,535 shares in the last quarter. Boyar Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 32.9% during the second quarter. Boyar Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,252 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $981,000 after purchasing an additional 3,035 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 34.5% in the second quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,886 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $871,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the second quarter valued at about $299,000. Finally, ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. now owns 5,045 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $404,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $172,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 30,713 shares in the company, valued at $2,641,318. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE:GPN opened at $87.18 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $85.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.93 and a 52 week high of $120.00.

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 net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 12.47%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is presently 17.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GPN shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Global Payments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, TD Cowen cut shares of Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.75.

Global Payments Company 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.