First Horizon Advisors Inc. Reduces Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 8.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,904 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 265 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $281,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the first quarter valued at $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the first quarter worth about $32,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Global Payments by 54.5% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its stake in Global Payments by 154.7% in the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 354 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its stake in Global Payments by 30.9% in the first quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 453 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In related news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GPN shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $111.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $158.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $141.48.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of GPN traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $109.35. The company had a trading volume of 165,041 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,290,125. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $91.60 and a 1-year high of $141.77. The stock has a market cap of $27.91 billion, a PE ratio of 21.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 13.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.48 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.