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

Kentucky Retirement Systems lessened its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 2.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,235 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 540 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 194.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,423,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $621,149,000 after buying an additional 4,240,388 shares during the last quarter. Kodai Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth about $69,029,000. Natixis grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 830.2% during the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 589,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $78,795,000 after purchasing an additional 526,143 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 267.0% during the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 677,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $90,602,000 after purchasing an additional 493,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TimesSquare Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 1st quarter worth approximately $47,094,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Global Payments from $111.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Global Payments from $124.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Global Payments from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $152.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $142.59.

Global Payments Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of GPN opened at $110.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.98. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.60 and a 1 year high of $141.77. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $110.26.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 11.93%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.48 earnings per share. Global Payments’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total value of $166,305.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.