Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Acquires Shares of 24,830 Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 24,830 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,782,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 3.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 215,399 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $605,078,000 after purchasing an additional 31,934 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,499,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $564,437,000 after purchasing an additional 83,481 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in 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 increased its stake in 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 worth $271,090,000 after buying an additional 490,411 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In related news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price 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 $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GPN. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Stephens downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $135.71.

Global Payments Price Performance

NYSE GPN opened at $110.93 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.01. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $112.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $108.23. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.60 and a 1 year high of $141.77.

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.