New York State Teachers Retirement System Grows Holdings in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 227,271 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,492 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $18,191,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LRI Investments LLC raised its position in Global Payments by 53.4% during the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 382 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Global Payments by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,932 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $385,000 after buying an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Global Payments by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,135 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in Global Payments by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 3,027 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $242,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Global Payments by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,320 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $86.00 to $114.00 in a report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fifteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $172,000.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 30,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,641,318. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN opened at $85.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.72 billion, a PE ratio of 14.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.98. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.93 and a 52-week high of $120.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.36 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 12.47%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.48%.

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.