Allstate Corp Buys Shares of 8,903 Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Allstate Corp bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 8,903 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $740,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. North Star Investment Management Corp. raised its stake in Global Payments by 242.2% in the 3rd quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 308 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 53.4% in the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 382 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 103.7% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 497 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments during the second quarter worth approximately $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GPN shares. Citigroup raised Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Global Payments from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $85.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.67.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In related news, EVP David M. Sheffield sold 2,016 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value 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 trade represents a 12.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider David Lawrence Green sold 11,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.99, for a total value of $927,884.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 68,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,446,999.04. This represents a 14.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have acquired 14,723 shares of company stock valued at $1,186,772 and have sold 18,080 shares valued at $1,439,350. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $75.98 on Friday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $77.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.79. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.93 and a 12 month high of $114.17.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.04%.

About Global Payments

Global Payments Inc (NYSE: GPN) is a worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions that enables commerce for merchants, issuers and enterprises. The company develops and operates payment processing networks, point-of-sale systems and cloud-based software that facilitate electronic transactions across in-store, online and mobile channels. Its services span merchant acquiring, payment gateway services, omnichannel commerce platforms, and solutions for recurring and subscription billing.

Global Payments offers a range of products and services including integrated payment terminals and point-of-sale software, e-commerce and gateway technologies, fraud prevention and tokenization tools, and business analytics and reporting.