Vontobel Holding Ltd. Sells 7,578 Shares of Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Vontobel Holding Ltd. trimmed its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 19.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,489 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 7,578 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 4,866.7% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 447 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. Tradewinds LLC. acquired a new position in Global Payments during the 1st quarter worth $685,000. Argyle Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 114.4% during the 1st quarter. Argyle Capital Management LLC now owns 18,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,792,000 after acquiring an additional 9,768 shares during the last quarter. Malaga Cove Capital LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 85.0% during the 1st quarter. Malaga Cove Capital LLC now owns 15,094 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,478,000 after acquiring an additional 6,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1,828.3% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 45,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,498,000 after purchasing an additional 43,550 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $172,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 30,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,641,318. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GPN shares. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Global Payments from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Global Payments from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $86.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.75.

Global Payments Stock Down 4.9%

Shares of GPN stock opened at $82.89 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $20.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.98. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $65.93 and a one year high of $120.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $85.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.04. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 12.47%. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.93 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.48%.

Global Payments Company Profile

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.