ABN AMRO Bank N.V. Invests $795,000 in Global Payments Inc. $GPN

ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,245 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $795,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $725,000. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new stake in Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at $243,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 43.5% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 14,462 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,416,000 after buying an additional 4,386 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in Global Payments by 20.2% in the 2nd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 31,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,530,000 after acquiring an additional 5,316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Global Payments by 209.2% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,093 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,128,000 after acquiring an additional 9,535 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other news, insider David Lawrence Green sold 11,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.99, for a total value of $927,884.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 68,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,446,999.04. This represents a 14.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 10,392 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $81.42 per share, with a total value of $846,116.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 59,303 shares in the company, valued at $4,828,450.26. This trade represents a 21.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 18,080 shares of company stock valued at $1,439,350 over the last 90 days. 1.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.7%

GPN stock opened at $71.29 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $77.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.10. Global Payments Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.93 and a fifty-two week high of $112.50.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The business services provider reported $3.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 19.68%.During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GPN shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Global Payments from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Stephens reduced their target price on Global Payments from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on Global Payments from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.82.

About Global Payments

Global Payments Inc (NYSE: GPN) is a worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions that enables commerce for merchants, issuers and enterprises. The company develops and operates payment processing networks, point-of-sale systems and cloud-based software that facilitate electronic transactions across in-store, online and mobile channels. Its services span merchant acquiring, payment gateway services, omnichannel commerce platforms, and solutions for recurring and subscription billing.

Global Payments offers a range of products and services including integrated payment terminals and point-of-sale software, e-commerce and gateway technologies, fraud prevention and tokenization tools, and business analytics and reporting.