ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 234 Shares of Global Payments Inc. $GPN

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,737 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 234 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $459,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 4,866.7% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 447 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Tradewinds LLC. bought a new position in Global Payments in the 1st quarter valued at about $685,000. Argyle Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 114.4% in the 1st quarter. Argyle Capital Management LLC now owns 18,305 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,792,000 after acquiring an additional 9,768 shares in the last quarter. Malaga Cove Capital LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 85.0% in the 1st quarter. Malaga Cove Capital LLC now owns 15,094 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after acquiring an additional 6,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in Global Payments by 1,828.3% in the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 45,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,498,000 after acquiring an additional 43,550 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,641,318. The trade was a 6.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. TD Cowen cut shares of Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Mizuho raised shares of Global Payments from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $86.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 target price (up previously from $90.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.75.

Global Payments Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of GPN stock opened at $88.00 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $85.37 and a 200-day moving average of $82.67. 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 12-month low of $65.93 and a 12-month high of $120.00. The firm has a market cap of $21.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.38, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.98.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.93 EPS. Global Payments’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 17.48%.

Global Payments 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.