Employees Retirement System of Texas Buys 12,120 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Employees Retirement System of Texas increased its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 27.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,120 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Global Payments were worth $5,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments during the first quarter worth about $32,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Global Payments by 54.5% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 154.7% during the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 354 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on GPN. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $126.00 to $122.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. BTIG Research cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $147.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, B. Riley dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $204.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $141.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total value of $166,305.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Global Payments Stock Down 6.5 %

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $97.06 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $105.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.70 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.60 and a 1 year high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 14.26%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.48 earnings per share. Global Payments’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.84%.

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.