Teacher Retirement System of Texas Invests $267,000 in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 2,382 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in Global Payments by 94.4% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 517 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 177.5% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 469 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Price Performance

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

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 16.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their price target on Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.