Westpac Banking Corp Sells 56,212 Shares of Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Westpac Banking Corp trimmed its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 98.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 970 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 56,212 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $65,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GPN. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $276,014,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Global Payments by 112.3% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,281,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $189,545,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206,807 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in Global Payments by 5,710.5% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 941,299 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $72,857,000 after acquiring an additional 925,099 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Global Payments by 93.8% in the fourth quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,412,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $109,299,000 after acquiring an additional 683,524 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Global Payments by 126.9% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,019,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $84,724,000 after acquiring an additional 570,413 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $80.97 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $61.16 and a 52 week high of $90.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.15 billion, a PE ratio of -39.69, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $72.29 and its 200-day moving average is $72.00.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.82 by $0.14. Global Payments had a positive return on equity of 13.11% and a negative net margin of 7.99%.The business had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Global Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.800-14.000 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 13.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently -49.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GPN shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $88.00 to $76.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Susquehanna set a $111.00 target price on shares of Global Payments and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Global Payments from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $64.00 to $60.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.46.

Global Payments Profile

Global Payments Inc (NYSE: GPN) is a worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions that enables commerce for merchants, issuers and enterprises. The company develops and operates payment processing networks, point-of-sale systems and cloud-based software that facilitate electronic transactions across in-store, online and mobile channels. Its services span merchant acquiring, payment gateway services, omnichannel commerce platforms, and solutions for recurring and subscription billing.

Global Payments offers a range of products and services including integrated payment terminals and point-of-sale software, e-commerce and gateway technologies, fraud prevention and tokenization tools, and business analytics and reporting.