Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Receives $141.36 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-five brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $141.36.

GPN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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 cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Global Payments from $172.00 to $158.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered their target price on shares of Global Payments from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Global Payments from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 valued at $621,149,000 after purchasing an additional 4,240,388 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in Global Payments by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,797,677 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $639,967,000 after purchasing an additional 12,196 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Global Payments by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,957,914 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $189,307,000 after purchasing an additional 193,137 shares in the last quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Global Payments by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 1,948,128 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $247,412,000 after purchasing an additional 100,993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lyrical Asset Management LP increased its holdings in Global Payments by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,764,123 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $224,044,000 after purchasing an additional 14,235 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $101.02 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $105.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.98. Global Payments has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77. The firm has a market cap of $25.79 billion, a PE ratio of 20.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 14.26%. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is 19.84%.

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.