Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Raises Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 129.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,792 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,137 shares during the quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Global Payments by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,087,801 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $646,151,000 after acquiring an additional 132,635 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth about $365,933,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Global Payments by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,192,227 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $278,413,000 after acquiring an additional 477,390 shares during the period. Glenview Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Global Payments by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 1,948,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $247,412,000 after acquiring an additional 100,993 shares during the period. Finally, Lyrical Asset Management LP lifted its stake in Global Payments by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,764,123 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $224,044,000 after acquiring an additional 14,235 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on GPN shares. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $163.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $143.00 to $128.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.32.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Andrea M. Carter sold 3,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.34, for a total value of $367,422.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,209 shares in the company, valued at $2,806,770.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPN traded up $1.44 during trading on Thursday, reaching $99.82. The company had a trading volume of 431,774 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,307,658. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $98.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $117.92. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.17 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 13.40%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.09 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.