David Sheffield Sells 2,016 Shares of Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Stock

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) EVP David Sheffield sold 2,016 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value of $164,122.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 14,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,397.58. This trade represents a 12.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $82.04 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.93 and a fifty-two week high of $116.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $80.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.61.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The business services provider reported $3.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 19.68% and a return on equity of 12.66%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.08 EPS. Global Payments has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.600-6.666 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 14.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GPN. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Global Payments from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Global Payments from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Global Payments from $90.00 to $85.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.29.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Global Payments during the second quarter valued at approximately $273,844,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 32.6% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,050,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $884,462,000 after purchasing an additional 2,716,156 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $189,545,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,807 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 77.5% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,001,585 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $186,107,000 after purchasing an additional 874,175 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the first quarter worth $66,441,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.