Cidel Asset Management Inc. Purchases New Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Cidel Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,926 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GPN. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $203,047,000 after acquiring an additional 785,539 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Global Payments by 1,559.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 515,763 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Global Payments by 22.7% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $271,090,000 after purchasing an additional 490,411 shares in the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter worth $47,113,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 925.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 417,832 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $42,794,000 after buying an additional 377,087 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $109.53 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $91.60 and a 52 week high of $141.77. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $112.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $108.37. The company has a market capitalization of $27.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.01.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. bought 5,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at $4,957,608. This represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $135.00 to $112.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. 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 research report on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Global Payments from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $135.71.

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.