Opal Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 292 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Opal Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 12.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,668 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at $318,000. CX Institutional bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at $76,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Global Payments by 27.9% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 702,123 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $68,752,000 after acquiring an additional 153,290 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Global Payments by 75,379.7% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,517,141 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $148,558,000 after acquiring an additional 1,515,131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Global Payments by 76.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 1,610 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Global Payments Trading Down 4.7%

Shares of GPN stock opened at $74.59 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.19 billion, a PE ratio of 12.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.93. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.93 and a 1-year high of $120.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $78.12 and a 200 day moving average of $96.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.59 EPS. Global Payments’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GPN shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Global Payments from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Williams Trading set a $75.00 target price on Global Payments in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Evercore ISI started coverage on Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $86.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.91.

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.