Silver Lake Advisory LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Silver Lake Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 39,121 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the quarter. Global Payments accounts for 1.9% of Silver Lake Advisory LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Silver Lake Advisory LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $4,384,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $203,047,000 after acquiring an additional 785,539 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Global Payments by 188.1% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $109,857,000 after purchasing an additional 755,898 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 1,559.6% during the fourth 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 period. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 22.7% during the third 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. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 463,568 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. bought 5,800 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,957,608. This represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on GPN shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Global Payments from $156.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Global Payments from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $135.71.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Global Payments stock opened at $107.76 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $91.60 and a twelve month high of $141.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.42 billion, a PE ratio of 20.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $113.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $107.40.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.83%.

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.