Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the twenty-three ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fifteen have assigned a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $91.75.

GPN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp cut shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on Global Payments from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Citigroup raised Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE:GPN opened at $68.47 on Monday. Global Payments has a 52 week low of $65.93 and a 52 week high of $107.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $76.37 and its 200-day moving average is $80.57. The firm has a market cap of $16.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. bought 10,392 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $81.42 per share, for a total transaction of $846,116.64. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 59,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,828,450.26. This trade represents a 21.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP David M. Sheffield sold 2,016 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total transaction of $164,122.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 14,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,397.58. The trade was a 12.25% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at about $276,014,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 32.6% during the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,050,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $884,462,000 after acquiring an additional 2,716,156 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 112.3% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,281,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $189,545,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206,807 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 5,710.5% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 941,299 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $72,857,000 after purchasing an additional 925,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Global Payments by 117.3% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,207,277 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $93,443,000 after purchasing an additional 651,671 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Global Payments

Global Payments Inc (NYSE: GPN) is a worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions that enables commerce for merchants, issuers and enterprises. The company develops and operates payment processing networks, point-of-sale systems and cloud-based software that facilitate electronic transactions across in-store, online and mobile channels. Its services span merchant acquiring, payment gateway services, omnichannel commerce platforms, and solutions for recurring and subscription billing.

Global Payments offers a range of products and services including integrated payment terminals and point-of-sale software, e-commerce and gateway technologies, fraud prevention and tokenization tools, and business analytics and reporting.