Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Upgraded to “Buy” 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 Thursday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $86.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Williams Trading set a $75.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Friday, April 18th. TD Cowen cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated a “peer perform” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $112.43.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.7%

Global Payments stock opened at $82.37 on Thursday. Global Payments has a fifty-two week low of $65.93 and a fifty-two week high of $120.00. The stock has a market cap of $20.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $85.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Global Payments will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.13%.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $345,823,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Global Payments by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $929,969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,659,984 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Global Payments by 75,379.7% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,517,141 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $148,558,000 after acquiring an additional 1,515,131 shares during the period. Contour Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $147,695,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments during the 1st quarter worth approximately $94,107,000. 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.