Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $138.55.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GPN. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. William Blair downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. BTIG Research lowered shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Global Payments from $130.00 to $120.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In related news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. bought 5,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,957,608. This represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in Global Payments by 45.4% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 15,499 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,499,000 after buying an additional 4,838 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 30.4% in the second quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,361 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in Global Payments by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 124,626 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,051,000 after purchasing an additional 7,033 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Global Payments by 24.0% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 71,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,868,000 after purchasing an additional 13,883 shares during the period. Finally, North Star Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Global Payments by 10.8% during the second quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 261,175 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $25,256,000 after purchasing an additional 25,373 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of GPN stock opened at $112.58 on Friday. Global Payments has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $113.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.06.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.83%.

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.