Insider Selling: Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) EVP Sells $164,122.56 in Stock

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) EVP David Sheffield sold 2,016 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total transaction of $164,122.56. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 14,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,175,397.58. This represents a 12.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Global Payments Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE GPN opened at $82.04 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $80.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.66. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.93 and a 12 month high of $116.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $19.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.82.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The business services provider reported $3.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.03. Global Payments had a net margin of 19.68% and a return on equity of 12.66%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.41 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.08 earnings per share. Global Payments has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.600-6.666 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.04%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Global Payments by 43.2% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 610 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 19.8% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,926 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Prana Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Global Payments by 36.2% during the third quarter. Prana Capital Management LP now owns 418,095 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $34,735,000 after acquiring an additional 111,051 shares during the period. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in Global Payments during the third quarter worth $2,785,000. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Global Payments in the third quarter worth $227,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $90.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.29.

About Global Payments

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.