Brighton Jones LLC Takes Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,466 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $725,000.

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

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on GPN. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $156.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $135.71.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN opened at $108.92 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. The business’s 50 day moving average is $113.26 and its 200-day moving average is $107.50. The stock has a market cap of $27.72 billion, a PE ratio of 20.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.00. Global Payments Inc. has a twelve month low of $91.60 and a twelve month high of $141.77.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 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.