Crestline Management LP Takes Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Crestline Management LP purchased a new stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 62,279 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,979,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,800,952,000 after purchasing an additional 179,195 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 25.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,659,984 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Global Payments by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,230,322 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $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 about $345,823,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $330,516,000 after buying an additional 349,457 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $86.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Cowen downgraded Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, TD Cowen cut shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $112.09.

Global Payments Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE GPN traded up $0.90 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $80.47. 2,434,197 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,426,104. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $65.93 and a one year high of $120.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $86.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $102.37. The company has a market cap of $19.79 billion, a PE ratio of 13.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. Global Payments's quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.59 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.