National Pension Service Sells 79,332 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

National Pension Service lessened its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 16.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 402,048 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 79,332 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $41,178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GPN. Stanley Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 18.9% during the second quarter. Stanley Capital Management LLC now owns 125,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $12,146,000 after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 267,483 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,775,000 after purchasing an additional 29,289 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its stake in Global Payments by 8.8% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 302,364 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $40,414,000 after buying an additional 24,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 20.6% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 172,939 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,723,000 after buying an additional 29,503 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt decreased their price target on Global Payments from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. BNP Paribas raised Global Payments to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $147.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $136.50.

Global Payments Stock Up 7.1 %

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $115.04 on Thursday. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $91.60 and a 52-week high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market cap of $29.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $104.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $103.83.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.48 EPS. Analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.04 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 18.83%.

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.