AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Acquires 34,603 Shares of Global Payments Inc. $GPN

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 19.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 214,232 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,603 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd owned about 0.09% of Global Payments worth $17,798,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at $725,000. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at about $243,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 43.5% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 14,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,416,000 after buying an additional 4,386 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Global Payments by 82.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 8,738 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $699,000 after acquiring an additional 3,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 624.3% during the second quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,328,000 after acquiring an additional 25,073 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research raised Global Payments to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $97.00 target price (up from $95.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Global Payments has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.52.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. bought 10,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $81.42 per share, with a total value of $846,116.64. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 59,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,828,450.26. This trade represents a 21.25% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP David M. Sheffield sold 2,016 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value of $164,122.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 14,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,175,397.58. This represents a 12.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE:GPN opened at $77.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 0.73. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.93 and a 52 week high of $101.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $75.55 and a 200 day moving average of $80.13.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.16 by $0.02. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.72% and a net margin of 16.92%.The firm had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.85 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Global Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.800-14.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 17.27%.

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.