7,401 Shares in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Purchased by Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund bought a new stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 7,401 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $725,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GPN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,800,952,000 after acquiring an additional 179,195 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in Global Payments by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $929,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,984 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Global Payments by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,230,322 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $696,362,000 after purchasing an additional 301,877 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth approximately $345,823,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,906,444 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $325,698,000 after purchasing an additional 259,590 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GPN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada cut shares of Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $86.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Monday, April 21st. Evercore ISI started coverage on Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Global Payments from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $110.91.

Global Payments Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE GPN traded down $1.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $77.80. 2,774,498 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,500,971. The firm has a market cap of $18.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.55, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.93 and a 1-year high of $120.00.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 12.33%. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.59 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.13%.

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.