Shannon River Fund Management LLC Makes New Investment in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Shannon River Fund Management LLC bought a new position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 158,356 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $17,745,000. Global Payments makes up approximately 2.6% of Shannon River Fund Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Shannon River Fund Management LLC owned about 0.06% of Global Payments as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position in Global Payments by 177.5% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 469 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in Global Payments by 374.2% during the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 569 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GPN. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. Williams Trading set a $75.00 target price on Global Payments in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and cut their target price for the company from $135.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Stephens lowered Global Payments from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $124.73.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN traded down $14.62 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $69.50. 17,553,278 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,324,365. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.93. The firm has a market cap of $17.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $68.48 and a twelve month high of $127.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is presently 16.18%.

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.