1620 Investment Advisors Inc. Boosts Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

1620 Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 90.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,993 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 949 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $204,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its position 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 in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $2,068,087.63. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Global Payments from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. William Blair cut shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Global Payments from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Global Payments from $126.00 to $122.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Global Payments currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.52.

Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE GPN opened at $103.37 on Thursday. 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 1 year low of $91.60 and a 1 year high of $141.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $104.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.37. The company has a market capitalization of $26.39 billion, a PE ratio of 20.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.98.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.48 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.84%.

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.