Empirical Finance LLC Sells 132 Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Empirical Finance LLC trimmed its position in shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,090 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 132 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Global Payments were worth $1,019,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Global Payments by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,638,862 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $679,952,000 after buying an additional 215,399 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 0.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,928,445 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $605,078,000 after acquiring an additional 31,934 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 1.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,499,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $564,437,000 after purchasing an additional 83,481 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $330,516,000 after purchasing an additional 349,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,646,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $271,090,000 after purchasing an additional 490,411 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In related news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. acquired 5,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on GPN. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 target price (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on Global Payments from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Stephens cut Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $135.71.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $109.53 on Tuesday. Global Payments Inc. has a 52-week low of $91.60 and a 52-week high of $141.77. 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 company has a market capitalization of $27.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $112.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.44.

Global Payments 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.