Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 6,717 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $898,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 364,909 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $46,343,000 after buying an additional 12,980 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 44,137 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,605,000 after buying an additional 863 shares in the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth approximately $232,000. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth approximately $65,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on GPN. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $172.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $182.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $143.00 to $128.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.32.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Andrea M. Carter sold 3,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.34, for a total value of $367,422.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 25,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,806,770.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN traded up $2.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $101.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,734,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,310,278. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $91.60 and a one year high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.83 billion, a PE ratio of 19.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $98.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $117.79.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.07. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 13.40%. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.17 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.09 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.84%.

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.