Stephens Inc. AR Acquires 5,866 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Stephens Inc. AR grew its holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 113.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,026 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,866 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,236,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter valued at $50,000. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 25,986 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,662,000 after acquiring an additional 1,959 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 3.9% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 40,301 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,496 shares during the period. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 14.7% during the third quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,367 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 2.0% during the third quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 51,987 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,325,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on GPN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stephens downgraded Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $135.71.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $108.97 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $111.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $108.55. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $91.60 and a one year high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Insider Activity

In other 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 stock was 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 directly owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,957,608. The trade was a 15.70 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

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.