Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Invests $725,000 in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund bought a new position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 7,401 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $725,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in Global Payments during the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. bought a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “hold” rating and a $79.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Monday, April 21st. KeyCorp raised their price target on Global Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Global Payments from $105.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $110.91.

Global Payments Stock Up 3.5%

Shares of GPN opened at $79.01 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $19.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.93. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.93 and a 1 year high of $120.00. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. 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.