Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty-six analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fifteen have given a hold recommendation and ten have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $117.36.

GPN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Global Payments from $145.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $105.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in Global Payments by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 26,946 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,760,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Sage Capital Advisors llc now owns 28,232 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,164,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 992 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC boosted its stake in Global Payments by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,685 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $413,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust increased its stake in Global Payments by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 2,068 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $67.51 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $94.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $104.76. Global Payments has a 12 month low of $65.93 and a 12 month high of $127.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company has a market capitalization of $16.60 billion, a PE ratio of 10.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. Analysts predict that Global Payments will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.18%.

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.