Alliancebernstein L.P. Has $42.33 Million Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 377,735 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,970 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.15% of Global Payments worth $42,329,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 94.4% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 517 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its position in Global Payments by 177.5% during 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 during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on GPN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 price target (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Global Payments from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Barclays cut their price target on Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.10.

Global Payments Stock Down 8.8 %

Shares of GPN stock opened at $84.82 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $84.50 and a 12-month high of $129.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $102.35 and a 200-day moving average of $106.79. The company has a market capitalization of $20.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. 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.