Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Makes New Investment in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,241 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $476,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its position in Global Payments by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 50,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,699,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Camelot Portfolios LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. Camelot Portfolios LLC now owns 2,434 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Leuthold Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,263,000. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $222,000. Finally, Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 14,480 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,623,000 after acquiring an additional 958 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GPN. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 price objective (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.33.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $103.83 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $25.71 billion, a PE ratio of 16.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01. Global Payments Inc. has a 52 week low of $91.60 and a 52 week high of $140.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $109.00.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. As a group, research analysts expect that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In related news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. acquired 5,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were purchased 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 in the company, valued at $4,957,608. This 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 can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

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.