Versor Investments LP Has $987,000 Stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Versor Investments LP boosted its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 292.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,805 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,564 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 40.6% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 5,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $587,000 after acquiring an additional 1,655 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 7,624.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 102,113 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,458,000 after purchasing an additional 100,791 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 33,070 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,387,000 after purchasing an additional 5,948 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 26.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 18,896 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,935,000 after purchasing an additional 4,002 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 68,277 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,874,000 after purchasing an additional 6,370 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. acquired 5,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction 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 approximately $4,957,608. This represents a 15.70 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $103.19 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.60 and a 1 year high of $140.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $109.18 and its 200-day moving average is $108.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.70, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01. 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 (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price objective (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stephens downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.33.

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.