Sound Income Strategies LLC Buys 8,055 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN – Get Rating) by 59.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,686 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,055 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,154,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Global Payments by 93.8% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,061,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $114,743,000 after acquiring an additional 514,006 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 279,324 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,309,000 after purchasing an additional 6,310 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $486,000. General Partner Inc. bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Strs Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 59.0% in the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 443,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $47,949,000 after purchasing an additional 164,610 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,562 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.08, for a total transaction of $176,630.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,032 shares in the company, valued at $3,169,858.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GPN shares. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Monday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $141.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 13th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $133.00 to $119.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.31.

Global Payments Trading Down 2.3 %

GPN traded down $2.37 during trading on Friday, reaching $98.55. The company had a trading volume of 5,308,398 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,793,021. The stock has a market cap of $25.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 223.98, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.42. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $92.27 and a 52 week high of $146.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 10th. The business services provider reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 10.30% and a net margin of 1.24%. Global Payments’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 9.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 16th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 227.28%.

About Global Payments

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Global Payments, Inc engages in the provision of payment technology and software solutions. It operates through the following segments: Merchant Solutions, Issuer Solutions and Business & Consumer Solutions. The Merchant Solutions segment provides payments technology and software solutions to customers globally.