Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 1,401 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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 quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 77.7% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 407 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $111.37 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $127.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $124.69. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $95.12 and a 52-week high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.43 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.40% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 19.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. TheStreet raised Global Payments from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Global Payments from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $143.00 to $128.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $182.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.00.

Global Payments 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.