Whipplewood Advisors LLC Makes New $37,000 Investment in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 328 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Global Payments in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. LRI Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 94.4% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 517 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 177.5% during the 4th quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 469 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 27.2% in the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 543 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stephens downgraded Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 price target (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.33.

Global Payments Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of GPN opened at $105.51 on Friday. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $140.38. The company’s fifty day moving average is $109.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $108.98. The firm has a market cap of $26.13 billion, a PE ratio of 17.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. Analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. acquired 5,800 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Global Payments 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.