Eastern Bank Sells 3,155 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Eastern Bank lowered its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,495 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,155 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $665,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in Global Payments by 59.6% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 383 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. 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 the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $158.00 to $143.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Global Payments from $126.00 to $122.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their price target on Global Payments from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.65.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

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

Global Payments Trading Up 0.6 %

GPN opened at $99.88 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $25.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.98. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.60 and a 12 month high of $141.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $105.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.26.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 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 analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 11.93%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.48 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is presently 19.84%.

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.