Alyeska Investment Group L.P. Decreases Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Alyeska Investment Group L.P. trimmed its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 49.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 383,480 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 380,548 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P.’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $42,973,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,145 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $689,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. AQR Arbitrage LLC raised its holdings in Global Payments by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. AQR Arbitrage LLC now owns 40,763 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,560,000 after buying an additional 3,641 shares during the last quarter. Boyar Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Global Payments by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Boyar Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $997,000 after buying an additional 567 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Global Payments by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,374,285 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $153,741,000 after acquiring an additional 262,521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Frontier Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,620,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Up 2.9 %

NYSE:GPN opened at $78.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market cap of $19.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.93 and a fifty-two week high of $120.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.10.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. Analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 16.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on GPN shares. KeyCorp cut their target price on Global Payments from $145.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI started coverage on 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. Bank of America decreased their target price on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Williams Trading set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a report on Friday, April 18th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.86.

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.