Vontobel Holding Ltd. Lowers Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) by 9.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,045 shares of the business services provider's stock after selling 4,387 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s holdings in Global Payments were worth $4,487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Global Payments by 65.6% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 515,763 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 22.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $271,090,000 after buying an additional 490,411 shares during the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the third quarter worth approximately $47,113,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Global Payments by 925.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 417,832 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $42,794,000 after acquiring an additional 377,087 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GPN. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Stephens lowered Global Payments from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $134.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.98% of the company's stock.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:GPN traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $106.59. 1,602,442 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,727,008. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $91.60 and a one year high of $140.38. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $110.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.78. The company has a market cap of $27.13 billion, a PE ratio of 17.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.01. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. Equities analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 12.08 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.