Analysts Set Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) PT at $99.30

Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-four brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have given a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $98.6667.

GPN has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $90.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Global Payments from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Stephens lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 16th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Global Payments to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd.

Global Payments Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of GPN stock opened at $73.39 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. Global Payments has a 52-week low of $65.93 and a 52-week high of $114.17. The company has a market capitalization of $17.37 billion, a PE ratio of 10.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s fifty day moving average is $77.45 and its 200 day moving average is $81.73.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The business services provider reported $3.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.41 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 19.68%.During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.08 earnings per share. Global Payments has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.600-6.666 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Global Payments will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.04%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. acquired 10,392 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $81.42 per share, for a total transaction of $846,116.64. Following the acquisition, the director owned 59,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,828,450.26. This trade represents a 21.25% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Patricia A. Watson bought 1,331 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $75.06 per share, with a total value of $99,904.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,984.06. This trade represents a 100.83% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 14,723 shares of company stock valued at $1,186,772 and sold 18,080 shares valued at $1,439,350. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,542,460 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,955,908,000 after acquiring an additional 149,441 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 32.6% during the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,050,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $884,462,000 after purchasing an additional 2,716,156 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Global Payments by 7.3% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,349,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $610,633,000 after purchasing an additional 499,695 shares in the last quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 4,316,892 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $345,524,000 after buying an additional 523,209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 2nd quarter valued at $273,844,000. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Global Payments

Global Payments Inc (NYSE: GPN) is a worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions that enables commerce for merchants, issuers and enterprises. The company develops and operates payment processing networks, point-of-sale systems and cloud-based software that facilitate electronic transactions across in-store, online and mobile channels. Its services span merchant acquiring, payment gateway services, omnichannel commerce platforms, and solutions for recurring and subscription billing.

Global Payments offers a range of products and services including integrated payment terminals and point-of-sale software, e-commerce and gateway technologies, fraud prevention and tokenization tools, and business analytics and reporting.