Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,268 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 165 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $703,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Global Payments by 194.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,423,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $621,149,000 after acquiring an additional 4,240,388 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,087,801 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $646,151,000 after buying an additional 132,635 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in Global Payments by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,797,677 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $639,967,000 after acquiring an additional 12,196 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $365,933,000. Finally, Glenview Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 1,948,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $247,412,000 after purchasing an additional 100,993 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on GPN. Stephens dropped their target price on Global Payments from $145.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Global Payments from $124.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Global Payments from $152.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Global Payments to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.96.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Global Payments stock opened at $111.05 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.60 and a 12 month high of $141.77. The company has a market cap of $28.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $104.27 and its 200-day moving average is $110.49.

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.84%.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total value of $166,305.23. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,068,087.63. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

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.