Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,661 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 903 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,867,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on GPN. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 price objective (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $78.00 in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $75.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Friday, April 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.36.

Global Payments Price Performance

Global Payments stock opened at $71.39 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.93 and a 1 year high of $127.66. The company has a market capitalization of $17.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced 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). Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. As a group, equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.