StockNews.com Downgrades Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning.

GPN has been the topic of several other reports. Mizuho reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $129.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Global Payments from a c rating to a b- rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $150.00.

Global Payments Price Performance

NYSE GPN opened at $111.37 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $127.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.69. Global Payments has a 52-week low of $95.12 and a 52-week high of $141.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.40% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.30 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Global Payments will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is 19.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Global Payments by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,525,000 after buying an additional 2,703,434 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its position in Global Payments by 40.5% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,613,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481,714 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Global Payments by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,087,801 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $646,151,000 after purchasing an additional 132,635 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 3.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,499,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $403,849,000 after purchasing an additional 116,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,402,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $392,657,000 after purchasing an additional 89,057 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.