nVerses Capital LLC Takes Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $307,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GPN. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 194.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,423,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $621,149,000 after acquiring an additional 4,240,388 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 188.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $109,857,000 after purchasing an additional 755,898 shares during the last quarter. Natixis grew its position in Global Payments by 830.2% in the first quarter. Natixis now owns 589,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $78,795,000 after purchasing an additional 526,143 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its stake in Global Payments by 267.0% in the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 677,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $90,602,000 after buying an additional 493,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Global Payments by 316.7% during the 2nd quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 609,939 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $58,981,000 after buying an additional 463,568 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,087.63. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of GPN opened at $102.28 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.11 billion, a PE ratio of 20.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $105.89 and its 200-day moving average is $105.97. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.60 and a 12 month high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 14.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.48 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GPN. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $158.00 to $143.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. William Blair lowered Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. B. Riley dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $204.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $138.82.

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.