Teacher Retirement System of Texas Makes New Investment in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,382 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GPN. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 0.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 26,946 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,760,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 28,232 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,164,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp grew its position in Global Payments by 4.1% during the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 2,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in Global Payments by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 992 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC raised its position in Global Payments by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,685 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $98.30 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $90.99 and a 12-month high of $129.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $103.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $107.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GPN shares. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 target price (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.10.

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.