Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 56.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,511 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 33,374 shares during the quarter. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,119,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,542,460 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,955,908,000 after purchasing an additional 149,441 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 7.3% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,349,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $610,633,000 after purchasing an additional 499,695 shares in the last quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 13.8% in the second quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 4,316,892 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $345,524,000 after purchasing an additional 523,209 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $273,844,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Global Payments by 112.3% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,281,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $189,545,000 after buying an additional 1,206,807 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on GPN shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $97.00 price target (up from $95.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Raymond James Financial raised Global Payments to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price objective on Global Payments from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $88.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Global Payments from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.36.

Global Payments Trading Down 2.4%

NYSE GPN opened at $68.64 on Monday. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.93 and a 52 week high of $100.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.21 billion, a PE ratio of 11.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $74.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $79.37.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.16 by $0.02. The business 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 was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.85 EPS. Global Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.800-14.000 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.27%.

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.