Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Has $1.39 Million Stock Holdings in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 12.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,343 shares during the period. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GPN. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 64.5% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 9,417 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $911,000 after acquiring an additional 3,691 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its holdings in Global Payments by 230.3% during the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 31,265 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,821,000 after buying an additional 21,800 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,837,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Global Payments by 91.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 53,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,135,000 after buying an additional 25,365 shares during the period. Finally, Scientech Research LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $648,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 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, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,957,608. The trade was a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Stephens downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $135.00 to $112.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $135.71.

Global Payments Stock Up 1.0 %

Global Payments stock opened at $108.92 on Friday. 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. Global Payments Inc. has a one year low of $91.60 and a one year high of $141.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $113.26 and a 200 day moving average of $107.50.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.83%.

About Global Payments

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.