Romano Brothers AND Company Trims Position in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Romano Brothers AND Company reduced its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 16.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,327 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 8,087 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $3,199,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Global Payments in the second quarter worth approximately $273,844,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Global Payments by 112.3% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,281,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $189,545,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,807 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Global Payments by 117.3% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,207,277 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $93,443,000 after purchasing an additional 651,671 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 126.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,019,788 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $84,724,000 after buying an additional 570,413 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 99.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,124,558 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $89,820,000 after buying an additional 560,936 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on GPN. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Global Payments from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. BNP Paribas Exane increased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Stephens cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $88.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Monday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.18.

Global Payments Stock Down 5.7%

Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $65.96 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $18.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.39, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $73.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.22. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.61 and a 52-week high of $99.99.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.27%.

Global Payments Company Profile

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.