First Trust Advisors LP Increases Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 3.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 389,717 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,488 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $26,228,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Global Payments by 8.6% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 44,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,980,000 after purchasing an additional 3,501 shares during the period. Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at $241,000. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at $371,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 13.1% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,653 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $784,000 after buying an additional 1,353 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,777 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $321,000 after buying an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research cut Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their price target on Global Payments from $70.00 to $60.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $76.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Global Payments in a report on Monday, June 22nd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $74.00 target price (down from $86.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nineteen have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Global Payments currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.46.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $87.30 on Wednesday. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $61.16 and a one year high of $90.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $72.98 and its 200 day moving average is $72.09. The stock has a market cap of $23.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -42.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.47 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.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.82 earnings per share. Global Payments’s quarterly revenue 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 13.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is presently -49.02%.

About Global Payments

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.