Global Payments Inc. $GPN Shares Acquired by Pzena Investment Management LLC

Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 32.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 11,050,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,716,156 shares during the period. Global Payments accounts for 2.9% of Pzena Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Pzena Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $884,462,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Welch Group LLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 5,835 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $467,000 after acquiring an additional 777 shares during the period. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 51.9% in the 2nd quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 556,578 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,549,000 after acquiring an additional 190,189 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 11,510 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $943,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 53.4% in the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 382 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. Finally, Aberdeen Group plc increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 188,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $15,056,000 after acquiring an additional 8,347 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $172,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 30,713 shares in the company, valued at $2,641,318. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Global Payments Trading Down 4.9%

GPN stock opened at $82.89 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $85.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.93 and a 52-week high of $120.00. The firm has a market cap of $20.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.49, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.98.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on GPN shares. Mizuho raised shares of Global Payments from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $86.00 to $114.00 in a report on Friday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $100.00 price target (up from $90.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.75.

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.