Mizuho Securities USA LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC decreased its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 11.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 21,427 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 2,693 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,098,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in Global Payments by 0.4% in the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,334,097 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $816,075,000 after buying an additional 35,251 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,906,444 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $325,698,000 after acquiring an additional 259,590 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,730,471 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $305,977,000 after acquiring an additional 305,987 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 40.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,656,830 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $185,664,000 after acquiring an additional 479,791 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Global Payments by 0.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,624,288 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $159,050,000 after buying an additional 9,755 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Global Payments news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $172,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 30,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,641,318. The trade was a 6.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $80.85 on Tuesday. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.93 and a 12-month high of $120.00. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.30. The company has a market capitalization of $19.62 billion, a PE ratio of 14.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.04. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.47% and a net margin of 15.07%. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.93 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 17.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on GPN. Wall Street Zen raised Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Truist Financial increased their price target on Global Payments from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on Global Payments from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wolfe Research reissued a “peer perform” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Global Payments from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Global Payments currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.21.

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.