State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Cuts Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 36.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 94,482 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 54,221 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $9,136,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in Global Payments in the first quarter worth $31,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments in the first quarter worth $32,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments in the second quarter worth $32,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Global Payments by 54.5% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its position in Global Payments by 154.7% in the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 354 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $110.44 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.91, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $103.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $110.76.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 14.26%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.48 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,068,087.63. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GPN. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Global Payments from $152.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Global Payments from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Stephens decreased their target price on Global Payments from $145.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. William Blair upgraded Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Global Payments from $111.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.96.

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.