Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Purchased by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 17.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 70.4% in the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 564 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Global Payments by 60.5% in the third quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 19,593 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,261,000 after buying an additional 7,387 shares in the last quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth about $1,815,000. AFS Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth about $202,000. Finally, Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 19,519 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,479,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE:GPN opened at $111.37 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $127.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $95.12 and a 1-year high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 13.40%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 19.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GPN. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Global Payments from $160.00 to $152.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Global Payments from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $158.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $150.00.

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.