Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $148.63.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GPN shares. Stephens increased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $155.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $145.00 in a report on Thursday, August 10th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $122.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a report on Monday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $124.34 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. Global Payments has a one year low of $92.27 and a one year high of $131.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $120.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.45, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.19. Global Payments had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 10.98%. The business had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.23 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Global Payments will post 9.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Global Payments news, CFO Joshua J. Whipple sold 37,096 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.28, for a total value of $4,721,578.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 39,772 shares in the company, valued at $5,062,180.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Global Payments news, CFO Joshua J. Whipple sold 37,096 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.28, for a total transaction of $4,721,578.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,062,180.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 2,016 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.47, for a total transaction of $240,851.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 25,045 shares in the company, valued at $2,992,126.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at $261,300,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 3,956.9% in the 1st quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 1,739,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $120,543,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,319 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at $131,733,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 101.5% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,256,929 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $224,158,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,055,514 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $303,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,338 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 three segments: Merchant Solutions, Issuer Solutions, and Consumer 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.