Scientech Research LLC Invests $648,000 in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Scientech Research LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 6,701 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $648,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 194.2% in the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,423,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $621,149,000 after purchasing an additional 4,240,388 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,797,677 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $639,967,000 after purchasing an additional 12,196 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 10.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,957,914 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $189,307,000 after buying an additional 193,137 shares during the last quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC grew its position in Global Payments by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 1,948,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $247,412,000 after buying an additional 100,993 shares during the period. Finally, Davis Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Global Payments by 18.2% during the second quarter. Davis Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,300,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $125,710,000 after buying an additional 200,000 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GPN shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. William Blair lowered Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Global Payments from $172.00 to $158.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.36.

Global Payments Price Performance

Global Payments stock opened at $101.02 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $25.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.04, 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. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $105.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $109.16. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $91.60 and a 52 week high of $141.77.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Global Payments 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,087.63. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.