Global Payments Inc. $GPN Shares Sold by UMB Bank n.a.

UMB Bank n.a. cut its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 19.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,236 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 295 shares during the quarter. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $99,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 9.9% during the second quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 51,756 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,143,000 after purchasing an additional 4,679 shares in the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 28.5% in the second quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 2,720 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $218,000 after acquiring an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 21.9% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 51,023 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,084,000 after acquiring an additional 9,164 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the second quarter worth $81,000. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 4.8% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 59,612 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,771,000 after acquiring an additional 2,739 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GPN. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $100.00 price target (up from $90.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.75.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $87.13 on Thursday. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $65.93 and a one year high of $120.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.23, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.47% and a net margin of 15.07%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Global Payments news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $172,000.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 30,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,641,318. The trade was a 6.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.