National Pension Service Lowers Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

National Pension Service decreased its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 379,517 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 22,531 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned 0.15% of Global Payments worth $42,529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $330,516,000 after acquiring an additional 349,457 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $203,047,000 after acquiring an additional 785,539 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $562,000. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 106.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 50,705 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,682,000 after acquiring an additional 26,104 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Up 2.2 %

GPN stock opened at $105.51 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $26.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.07, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $109.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $108.95. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $91.60 and a 52 week high of $140.38.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GPN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price target (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America cut their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

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.