KBC Group NV Raises Position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 64,047 shares of the business services provider’s stock after buying an additional 322 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $7,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth about $476,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 925.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 417,832 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $42,794,000 after purchasing an additional 377,087 shares during the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 8,909 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $998,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares during the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,388,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343 shares during the period. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its position in Global Payments by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 52,062 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $5,834,000 after purchasing an additional 7,076 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GPN shares. 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 lowered their target price for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Global Payments from $156.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $135.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. acquired 5,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,957,608. This represents a 15.70 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of GPN stock opened at $112.92 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 stock has a market capitalization of $28.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.00. Global Payments Inc. has a 12-month low of $91.60 and a 12-month high of $141.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $112.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $107.87.

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.