Alyeska Investment Group L.P. Sells 380,548 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Alyeska Investment Group L.P. trimmed its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 49.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 383,480 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 380,548 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. owned 0.15% of Global Payments worth $42,973,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Global Payments by 177.5% in the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 469 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its holdings in Global Payments by 374.2% in the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 569 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GPN shares. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, April 18th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Global Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen cut shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $112.09.

Global Payments Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Global Payments stock traded up $1.19 on Friday, hitting $80.76. The stock had a trading volume of 1,569,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,419,078. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $87.26 and a 200 day moving average of $102.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.07, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.93 and a twelve month high of $120.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. The firm 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 earned $2.59 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.