Global Payments Inc. $GPN Shares Sold by Crawford Investment Counsel Inc.

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

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. North Star Investment Management Corp. grew its holdings 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 valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments during the third quarter worth about $27,000. SouthState Bank Corp purchased a new position in Global Payments during the third quarter worth about $28,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Global Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Price Performance

Global Payments stock opened at $68.64 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.37. The company has a market capitalization of $19.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 0.73. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.93 and a 1 year high of $100.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.69.

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GPN. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Global Payments from $103.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Truist Financial set a $85.00 price objective on Global Payments in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Global Payments in a research note on Monday, March 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $88.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.36.

Global Payments 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.