Diligent Investors LLC Sells 465 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Diligent Investors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 4.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,468 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 465 shares during the quarter. Diligent Investors LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in Global Payments by 5,252.4% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 17,556 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,719,000 after acquiring an additional 17,228 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 129.7% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 11,988 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,174,000 after purchasing an additional 6,769 shares during the period. Paladin Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 12.9% during the first quarter. Paladin Wealth LLC now owns 5,173 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $507,000 after buying an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 19.3% during the first quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 179,401 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $17,567,000 after buying an additional 29,039 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Global Payments in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN opened at $76.70 on Thursday. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.93 and a 52-week high of $120.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $79.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.64. The firm has a market cap of $18.71 billion, a PE ratio of 12.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.73 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. Global Payments’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.59 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 16.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on GPN shares. Truist Financial started coverage on Global Payments in a research note on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $79.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen raised Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $86.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Global Payments from $105.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.91.

Global Payments 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.