Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Buys 2,509 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 10.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,604 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,509 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,476,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in Global Payments during the first quarter worth about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 54.5% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in Global Payments in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. raised its position in Global Payments by 154.7% during the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 354 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GPN shares. William Blair raised Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $157.00 to $147.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com cut Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $124.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Stephens reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Global Payments Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:GPN opened at $111.01 on Monday. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $91.60 and a 52 week 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’s fifty day moving average is $101.27 and its 200-day moving average is $112.28. The firm has a market cap of $28.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.98.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 11.93%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.48 earnings per share. Global Payments’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio 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.