New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Has $1.36 Million Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lowered its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,148 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,361,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in Global Payments by 0.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 26,946 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,760,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc increased its holdings in Global Payments by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 28,232 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,164,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp increased its holdings in Global Payments by 4.1% in the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 2,440 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust increased its holdings in Global Payments by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,068 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $232,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its holdings in Global Payments by 27.2% during the third quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 543 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $105.67 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $26.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day moving average of $110.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $108.65. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $91.60 and a 52-week high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.83%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Stephens downgraded Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays increased their price target on Global Payments from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price target (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $135.76.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. acquired 5,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.