South Dakota Investment Council Sells 6,846 Shares of Global Payments Inc. $GPN

South Dakota Investment Council decreased its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 178,356 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,846 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $14,818,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at about $725,000. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 1st quarter worth approximately $243,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 43.5% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 14,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,416,000 after purchasing an additional 4,386 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 82.0% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 8,738 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $699,000 after purchasing an additional 3,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 382.8% in the second quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 11,591 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $928,000 after purchasing an additional 9,190 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $77.82 on Tuesday. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.93 and a 12-month high of $106.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.16 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 16.92% and a return on equity of 12.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.85 earnings per share. Global Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.800-14.000 EPS. Research analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is 17.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price target (up from $80.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Global Payments from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Evercore dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $90.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Stephens decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.52.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other news, EVP David M. Sheffield sold 2,016 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 14,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,175,397.58. This represents a 12.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider David Lawrence Green sold 11,600 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.99, for a total value of $927,884.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 68,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,446,999.04. This represents a 14.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Profile

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.