The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Reduces Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 161,639 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,328 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $15,623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments in the first quarter worth about $32,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Global Payments by 54.5% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 154.7% during the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 354 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was 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 owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,068,087.63. 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 owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GPN shares. Barclays lowered their price target on Global Payments from $145.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $164.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $158.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $111.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.23.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN stock opened at $97.66 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.49. The company has a market capitalization of $24.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.38, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 11.93%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.48 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.84%.

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.