Insider Buying: Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Director Buys 5,800 Shares of Stock

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. acquired 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, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.2 %

GPN traded down $0.20 during trading on Monday, reaching $114.01. The company had a trading volume of 887,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,256,728. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $109.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a market cap of $29.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.51, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.00. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $91.60 and a 12-month high of $141.77.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 194.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,423,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $621,149,000 after purchasing an additional 4,240,388 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 785,539 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 188.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $109,857,000 after buying an additional 755,898 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 490,411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 316.7% in the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 609,939 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $58,981,000 after acquiring an additional 463,568 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GPN shares. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Global Payments from $126.00 to $122.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $164.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.41.

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.