Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Wednesday morning.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on GPN. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Mizuho restated a neutral rating and set a $129.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Global Payments from a c rating to a b- rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Global Payments currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN opened at $124.57 on Wednesday. Global Payments has a 52-week low of $95.12 and a 52-week high of $141.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a market cap of $31.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $129.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.65.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Global Payments will post 10.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.46%.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC grew its stake in Global Payments by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,525,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703,434 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in Global Payments by 40.5% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $591,613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481,714 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Global Payments by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,087,801 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $646,151,000 after acquiring an additional 132,635 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Global Payments by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,499,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $403,849,000 after acquiring an additional 116,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Global Payments by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,402,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $392,657,000 after acquiring an additional 89,057 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

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.