Retirement Systems of Alabama Decreases Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 57,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 1,401 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $7,288,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at about $631,000. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC now owns 52,484 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,665,000 after purchasing an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. raised its stake in Global Payments by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 29,842 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,790,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. BIP Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 11,787 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,497,000 after purchasing an additional 1,563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Global Payments by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,281 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $798,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GPN shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $158.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Global Payments from $182.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Global Payments from $143.00 to $128.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $150.00.

Global Payments Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of GPN stock opened at $111.37 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $95.12 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $127.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $124.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.40% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.