Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Trims Holdings in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA decreased its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 1.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,047,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 23,336 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $170,117,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 32.6% in the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,050,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $884,462,000 after buying an additional 2,716,156 shares in the last quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Global Payments by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 4,316,892 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $345,524,000 after acquiring an additional 523,209 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Global Payments during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $273,844,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Global Payments by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,649,083 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $131,993,000 after purchasing an additional 24,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,539,684 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $123,236,000 after purchasing an additional 85,520 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of GPN opened at $73.82 on Tuesday. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.93 and a fifty-two week high of $114.17. The firm has a market cap of $17.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.37, a PEG ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $77.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The business services provider reported $3.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 19.68% and a return on equity of 12.66%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.08 EPS. Global Payments has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.600-6.666 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 14.04%.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other news, Director Connie D. Mcdaniel sold 4,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.81, for a total transaction of $347,343.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 30,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,335,389.34. This represents a 12.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David M. Sheffield sold 2,016 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total transaction of $164,122.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 14,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,175,397.58. The trade was a 12.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders bought 14,723 shares of company stock worth $1,186,772 and sold 18,080 shares worth $1,439,350. 1.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Global Payments from $90.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.62.

About Global Payments

Global Payments Inc (NYSE: GPN) is a worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions that enables commerce for merchants, issuers and enterprises. The company develops and operates payment processing networks, point-of-sale systems and cloud-based software that facilitate electronic transactions across in-store, online and mobile channels. Its services span merchant acquiring, payment gateway services, omnichannel commerce platforms, and solutions for recurring and subscription billing.

Global Payments offers a range of products and services including integrated payment terminals and point-of-sale software, e-commerce and gateway technologies, fraud prevention and tokenization tools, and business analytics and reporting.