AlphaQuest LLC Acquires 291 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

AlphaQuest LLC grew its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 24.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GPN. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $203,047,000 after purchasing an additional 785,539 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 1,559.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 548,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $61,502,000 after purchasing an additional 515,763 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $271,090,000 after purchasing an additional 490,411 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at $53,700,000. Finally, Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 3rd quarter valued at $47,113,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 target price (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

Global Payments Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of GPN opened at $94.15 on Monday. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $90.99 and a 1-year high of $136.36. The company has a 50-day moving average of $106.05 and a 200 day moving average of $108.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.23, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 16.18%.

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.