1,318,000 Shares in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Bought by Contour Asset Management LLC

Contour Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,318,000 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $147,695,000. Global Payments makes up approximately 4.3% of Contour Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Contour Asset Management LLC owned 0.52% of Global Payments as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GPN. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $2,800,952,000 after buying an additional 179,195 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $929,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659,984 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 5.1% during the fourth 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 period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at $345,823,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,730,471 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $305,977,000 after purchasing an additional 305,987 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on GPN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $122.00 target price (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, April 18th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed a "peer perform" rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $112.09.

Global Payments Price Performance

GPN stock traded up $0.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $80.47. 2,434,197 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,425,069. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.02, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $86.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.35. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.93 and a 12 month high of $120.00.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. Global Payments's revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.59 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.13%.

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.