New York State Teachers Retirement System Boosts Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 242,887 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,725 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.10% of Global Payments worth $27,218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $203,047,000 after acquiring an additional 785,539 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Global Payments by 1,559.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 548,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,502,000 after purchasing an additional 515,763 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Global Payments by 22.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $271,090,000 after purchasing an additional 490,411 shares during the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the third quarter valued at about $47,113,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 925.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 417,832 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $42,794,000 after buying an additional 377,087 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GPN. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 target price (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Global Payments from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $135.76.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN opened at $105.67 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $108.56. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77. The stock has a market cap of $26.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. Analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. bought 5,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Global Payments Company 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.