Consolidated Planning Corp Purchases Shares of 1,828 Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Consolidated Planning Corp acquired a new position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,828 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 59.6% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 383 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 price target (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Barclays increased their target price on Global Payments from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $135.71.

Insider Activity

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. bought 5,800 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE:GPN opened at $104.12 on Friday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $111.45 and its 200 day moving average is $108.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.50 billion, a PE ratio of 19.61, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.01. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 13.61%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. 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.