Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Has $2.47 Million Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp cut its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 16.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 19,416 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 3,884 shares during the period. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $2,466,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GPN. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,078,525,000 after buying an additional 2,703,434 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 338.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,288,108 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $379,416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,537,941 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter valued at approximately $197,875,000. Boston Partners grew its position in Global Payments by 40.5% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,613,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481,714 shares during the period. Finally, Alkeon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 119.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,085,772 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $125,287,000 after acquiring an additional 590,000 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Global Payments Price Performance

NYSE GPN traded down $3.61 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $123.86. The company had a trading volume of 146,205 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,143,000. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $95.12 and a twelve month high of $141.77. The company has a market capitalization of $31.60 billion, a PE ratio of 33.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $129.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.58.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.30 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on GPN shares. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $129.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $151.92.

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.