Transcend Capital Advisors LLC Makes New $222,000 Investment in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Transcend Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 1,978 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Global Payments by 65.6% during 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 during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1,559.6% during 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 buying an additional 515,763 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $271,090,000 after buying an additional 490,411 shares during the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,113,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 925.5% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. acquired 5,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were purchased 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 owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,957,608. The trade was a 15.70 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GPN. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price objective (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America reduced their price objective 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. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

Global Payments Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $103.19 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $25.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $109.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.00. Global Payments Inc. has a 1-year low of $91.60 and a 1-year high of $140.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. Analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

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

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.