Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 5,006 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lowered its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 87,453 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 5,006 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Global Payments were worth $9,800,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GPN. AIA Group Ltd bought a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth $349,000. Oribel Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 495.1% in the fourth quarter. Oribel Capital Management LP now owns 521,300 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $58,417,000 after acquiring an additional 433,700 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its position in Global Payments by 9.8% during the fourth 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 during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Global Payments by 106.1% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 50,705 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,682,000 after purchasing an additional 26,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focused Investors LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at about $99,969,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wall Street Zen raised Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Global Payments from $145.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $86.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $112.43.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE GPN traded down $0.36 on Friday, hitting $75.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,674,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,476,381. The company's 50-day moving average is $81.33 and its 200 day moving average is $99.36. The firm has a market cap of $18.41 billion, a PE ratio of 12.21, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.93 and a 1-year high of $120.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.73 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. Global Payments's quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.59 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.13%.

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.