Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Stock Holdings Increased by Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 26.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 18,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,002 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,935,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in Global Payments in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments in the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 59.6% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 383 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GPN shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. BTIG Research lowered shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, B. Riley reduced their price target on Global Payments from $204.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Global Payments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $136.50.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN opened at $104.44 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $104.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $26.57 billion, a PE ratio of 19.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.97. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.60 and a 1 year high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.48 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.05 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is 18.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In related news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,087.63. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

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.