Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 147,763 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 8,000 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $16,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 9,616 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 2,046 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 455.0% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $331,000 after purchasing an additional 2,425 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 52,527 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,886,000 after purchasing an additional 1,679 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Global Payments by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 11,525 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 1,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Global Payments by 54.4% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 707 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 249 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 several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stephens cut shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 target price (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.33.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN opened at $103.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $25.55 billion, a PE ratio of 16.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $109.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.93. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $91.60 and a 12-month high of $140.38.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,957,608. This represents a 15.70 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.98% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.