USS Investment Management Ltd Trims Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

USS Investment Management Ltd trimmed its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,962 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 7,003 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Global Payments were worth $6,385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AIA Group Ltd bought a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth $349,000. Oribel Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 495.1% in the fourth quarter. Oribel Capital Management LP now owns 521,300 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $58,417,000 after acquiring an additional 433,700 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $259,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in 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 worth $5,682,000 after acquiring an additional 26,104 shares during the period. Finally, Focused Investors LLC bought a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at $99,969,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Global Payments Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of Global Payments stock traded up $1.66 on Tuesday, hitting $75.75. The stock had a trading volume of 1,123,551 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,874,608. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $83.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.38. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $65.93 and a one year high of $120.00. The stock has a market cap of $18.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.26, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Williams Trading set a $75.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a report on Friday, April 18th. Barclays lowered 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $112.43.

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.