Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 163,683 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $18,342,000. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC owned 0.06% of Global Payments at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,723,000. Vident Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 10,382 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,163,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Sone Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,006,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at $863,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new stake in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at $1,006,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GPN. KeyCorp raised their target price on Global Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $105.00 to $77.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group cut Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $112.43.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN traded down $1.60 during trading on Friday, reaching $74.12. 2,199,931 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,473,158. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.93 and a 52 week high of $120.00. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $83.62 and a 200 day moving average of $100.81. The stock has a market cap of $18.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.99, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.59 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. 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.