Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Acquires Shares of 182,963 Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 182,963 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $20,503,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned approximately 0.07% of Global Payments at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AIA Group Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $349,000. Oribel Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 495.1% during the 4th quarter. Oribel Capital Management LP now owns 521,300 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $58,417,000 after purchasing an additional 433,700 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 106.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 50,705 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,682,000 after purchasing an additional 26,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focused Investors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $99,969,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen lowered Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, April 18th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Global Payments from $145.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Wolfe Research reiterated a "peer perform" rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Global Payments from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $110.91.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN traded down $0.73 on Monday, reaching $74.88. 1,800,452 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,473,677. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $18.26 billion, a PE ratio of 12.12, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $80.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.96. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.93 and a 52-week high of $120.00.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.73 by $0.09. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.59 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter 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 declared 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. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Global Payments's 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.