New York State Teachers Retirement System Buys 1,725 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 242,887 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,725 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $27,218,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Global Payments by 65.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $203,047,000 after buying an additional 785,539 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Global Payments by 1,559.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 548,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $61,502,000 after acquiring an additional 515,763 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Global Payments by 22.7% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $271,090,000 after acquiring an additional 490,411 shares during the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new position in Global Payments in the third quarter valued at about $47,113,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Global Payments by 925.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 417,832 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $42,794,000 after purchasing an additional 377,087 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price target (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $135.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. acquired 5,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,957,608. The trade was a 15.70 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE GPN opened at $105.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $91.60 and a 1-year high of $141.77. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

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

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.