Creative Planning Buys 1,959 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Creative Planning boosted its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,986 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,959 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,662,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Stanley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 18.9% during the second quarter. Stanley Capital Management LLC now owns 125,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,146,000 after buying an additional 20,000 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in Global Payments by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 267,483 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,775,000 after acquiring an additional 29,289 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 8.8% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 302,364 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,414,000 after purchasing an additional 24,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 20.6% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 172,939 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,723,000 after purchasing an additional 29,503 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. BTIG Research cut Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Global Payments from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,087.63. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $99.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $25.22 billion, a PE ratio of 18.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 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 12-month low of $91.60 and a 12-month high of $141.77. The business has a 50 day moving average of $105.31 and a 200-day moving average of $105.02.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.48 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is 18.32%.

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.