Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Stake Cut by South Dakota Investment Council

South Dakota Investment Council cut its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 98,985 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 6,782 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $12,571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the third quarter worth $27,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the third quarter worth $47,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their target price 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. B. Riley raised their price target on Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com lowered Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Global Payments from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Stock Up 2.2 %

NYSE:GPN traded up $2.72 on Tuesday, hitting $126.95. 1,218,912 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,176,515. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $95.12 and a 1 year high of $141.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $129.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.56. The company has a market cap of $32.38 billion, a PE ratio of 33.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.46%.

About Global Payments

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.