Lazard Asset Management LLC Cuts Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Lazard Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 66.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,637 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 69,081 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC's holdings in Global Payments were worth $3,993,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. AIA Group Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $349,000. Oribel Capital Management LP raised its position in 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 in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in 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 lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 106.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 50,705 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,682,000 after acquiring an additional 26,104 shares during the period. Finally, Focused Investors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth $99,969,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on GPN. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $105.00 to $77.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded shares of Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $86.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wolfe Research reissued a "peer perform" rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen downgraded Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Global Payments currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $112.43.

Global Payments Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of Global Payments stock traded down $1.60 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $80.77. 2,686,824 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,462,448. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.93 and a 52-week high of $120.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $85.32 and a 200-day moving average of $101.74. 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 market capitalization of $19.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96.

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 for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.59 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.13%.

Global Payments 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.