Oppenheimer Begins Coverage on Global Payments (NYSE:GPN)

Investment analysts at Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, StockNewsAPI reports. The firm set a “market perform” rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also commented on GPN. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $164.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $126.00 to $122.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.23.

Global Payments Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $102.42 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. Global Payments has a 52-week low of $91.60 and a 52-week high of $141.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $105.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $108.77. The stock has a market cap of $26.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.98.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly 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. Global Payments had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 11.93%. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.48 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Global Payments will post 11.07 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,087.63. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC bought a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $210,000. Stanley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 18.9% during the second quarter. Stanley Capital Management LLC now owns 125,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,146,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its position in Global Payments by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 82,672 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,499,000 after purchasing an additional 18,615 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 12.3% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 267,483 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,775,000 after acquiring an additional 29,289 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 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.