Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Cut to Market Perform at William Blair

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) was downgraded by analysts at William Blair from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on GPN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $111.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $152.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $142.00.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN stock opened at $103.83 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $105.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.70. Global Payments has a 1-year low of $91.60 and a 1-year high of $141.77. The company has a market capitalization of $26.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.60, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.48 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Global Payments will post 11.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In related news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 194.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,423,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $621,149,000 after purchasing an additional 4,240,388 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 0.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,797,677 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $639,967,000 after acquiring an additional 12,196 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Global Payments by 10.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,957,914 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $189,307,000 after acquiring an additional 193,137 shares during the period. Glenview Capital Management LLC grew its position in Global Payments by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 1,948,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $247,412,000 after buying an additional 100,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lyrical Asset Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,764,123 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $224,044,000 after buying an additional 14,235 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

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 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.