Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lessened its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,089 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 580 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,039,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GPN. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in Global Payments in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Global Payments by 54.5% in the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 154.7% in the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 354 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Up 0.5 %

GPN opened at $98.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $108.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.98. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $91.60 and a 1-year high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.48 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 19.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on GPN. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $147.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. BNP Paribas raised Global Payments to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective 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, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Global Payments currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $139.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.98% of the stock is currently 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.