California Public Employees Retirement System Cuts Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 474,290 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 22,942 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $60,235,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 3rd quarter worth $288,000. CX Institutional bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter valued at approximately $211,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 46.5% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 45,442 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,244,000 after buying an additional 14,431 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Global Payments by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 114,514 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $13,214,000 after buying an additional 1,016 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GPN shares. Barclays reduced their price target on Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. TheStreet upgraded Global Payments from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, B. Riley raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.92.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $124.63 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $31.79 billion, a PE ratio of 32.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $129.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $124.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $95.12 and a 12-month high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.46%.

Global Payments Company 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.