Global Payments Inc. $GPN Shares Sold by Weitz Investment Management Inc.

Weitz Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 550,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 10,000 shares during the quarter. Global Payments makes up approximately 2.5% of Weitz Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Weitz Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.23% of Global Payments worth $45,694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 242.2% in the third quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. SouthState Bank Corp bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter worth about $37,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider David Lawrence Green sold 11,600 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.99, for a total value of $927,884.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 68,096 shares in the company, valued at $5,446,999.04. The trade was a 14.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 10,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $81.42 per share, with a total value of $846,116.64. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 59,303 shares in the company, valued at $4,828,450.26. This trade represents a 21.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GPN. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Global Payments from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Zacks Research raised Global Payments to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $97.00 price objective (up from $95.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $85.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. One 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.52.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN stock opened at $78.37 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.38. The company has a market capitalization of $21.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.54, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.93 and a fifty-two week high of $106.07.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 17.27%.

Global Payments Company 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.