Alliancebernstein L.P. Buys 16,970 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 377,735 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 16,970 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.15% of Global Payments worth $42,329,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. AIA Group Ltd bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $349,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Global Payments by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 11,798 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $1,322,000 after buying an additional 799 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 35.0% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 995,487 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $111,554,000 after buying an additional 258,179 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Global Payments by 50.4% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,256,238 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $140,774,000 after buying an additional 420,739 shares during the period. Finally, Allstate Corp bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth about $861,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

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Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN traded down $6.76 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $83.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 624,998 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,217,381. The stock has a market cap of $20.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.53, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.83 and a twelve month high of $127.66.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is currently 16.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lowered their price target on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays dropped their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $122.00 target price (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $130.52.

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.