Bank of Montreal Can Sells 77,778 Shares of Global Payments Inc. $GPN

Bank of Montreal Can reduced its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 6.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,073,027 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 77,778 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $85,885,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at $725,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1,828.3% in the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 45,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,498,000 after purchasing an additional 43,550 shares in the last quarter. Sierra Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Sierra Capital LLC now owns 2,780 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,055 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 14,760 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,445,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Up 3.8%

NYSE:GPN opened at $80.04 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $85.60 and a 200 day moving average of $81.81. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.93 and a 52 week high of $120.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.98.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.04. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.47% and a net margin of 15.07%.The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.93 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is 17.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Global Payments news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $172,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 30,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,641,318. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GPN shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.45.

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.