Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirty brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $112.2083.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Global Payments from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $100.00 price target (up from $90.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Cowen downgraded Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.4%

GPN stock opened at $86.83 on Monday. Global Payments has a fifty-two week low of $65.93 and a fifty-two week high of $120.00. The business’s 50-day moving average is $80.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $21.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.93.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.06 by $0.04. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.47% and a net margin of 15.07%. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Global Payments will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is 17.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In related news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $172,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 30,713 shares in the company, valued at $2,641,318. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $725,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in Global Payments by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 13,542 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,519,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 4,249 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at about $505,000. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 558.9% in the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 1,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $199,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509 shares during the period. 89.76% 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 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.