LRI Investments LLC Buys 133 Shares of Global Payments Inc. $GPN

LRI Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 53.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 382 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $31,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 546.6% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 375 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 4,866.7% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 447 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the period. Finally, TFC Financial Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 9,580.0% during the 1st quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 484 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $172,000.00. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 30,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,641,318. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GPN shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Global Payments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Global Payments from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Global Payments from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.75.

Global Payments Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of GPN opened at $84.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.98. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.93 and a 1 year high of $120.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.47% and a net margin of 15.07%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is 17.48%.

Global Payments Profile

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.