Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Lifted to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on GPN. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $128.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $154.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Tuesday, October 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $126.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 22nd. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.85.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN opened at $109.87 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $116.56 and a 200 day moving average of $111.37. Global Payments has a twelve month low of $92.27 and a twelve month high of $129.70.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 31st. The business services provider reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.55 by $0.20. Global Payments had a net margin of 9.23% and a return on equity of 11.28%. The business had revenue of $2.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.37 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Global Payments will post 9.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In related news, CFO Joshua J. Whipple sold 37,096 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.28, for a total value of $4,721,578.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,062,180.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Joshua J. Whipple sold 37,096 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.28, for a total transaction of $4,721,578.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,772 shares in the company, valued at $5,062,180.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider David Lawrence Green sold 17,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.53, for a total value of $2,016,537.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 77,411 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,711,059.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at about $261,300,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 3,956.9% during the first quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 1,739,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $120,543,000 after purchasing an additional 1,696,319 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its position in Global Payments by 40.5% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $591,613,000 after buying an additional 1,481,714 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $131,733,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,055,514 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $303,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,338 shares during the last quarter. 85.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Global Payments Company 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 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.