Bamco Inc. NY Reduces Stock Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Bamco Inc. NY cut its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 87.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,000 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 7,000 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY's holdings in Global Payments were worth $112,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $330,516,000 after purchasing an additional 349,457 shares in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd purchased a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $349,000. Oribel Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 495.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 433,700 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its stake 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 worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 106.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 50,705 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,682,000 after purchasing an additional 26,104 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Williams Trading set a $75.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a report on Friday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of 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. Cowen downgraded shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $112.09.

Global Payments Trading Up 1.1 %

GPN stock traded up $0.90 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $80.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,434,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,426,104. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.93 and a 1 year high of $120.00. The firm 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $102.37. 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 (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.20 billion for 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 company's revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.59 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

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