The Goldman Sachs Group Begins Coverage on Global Payments (NYSE:GPN)

Investment analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) in a report issued on Monday. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 21.41% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on GPN. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on Global Payments from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Evercore decreased their target price on Global Payments from $90.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Truist Financial set a $85.00 price target on Global Payments in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.36.

Global Payments Stock Down 5.1%

NYSE:GPN traded down $3.92 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $72.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 548,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,857,896. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.69 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The company has a market cap of $20.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.73. Global Payments has a one year low of $65.93 and a one year high of $100.56. The business’s 50-day moving average is $75.32 and its 200-day moving average is $79.94.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.16 by $0.02. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.72% and a net margin of 16.92%.The company had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Global Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.800-14.000 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Global Payments will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other news, EVP David M. Sheffield sold 2,016 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value of $164,122.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 14,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,397.58. This represents a 12.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. acquired 10,392 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $81.42 per share, for a total transaction of $846,116.64. Following the purchase, the director owned 59,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,828,450.26. The trade was a 21.25% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Strive Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. North Star Investment Management Corp. grew its position in Global Payments by 242.2% during the third quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Global Payments during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, SouthState Bank Corp acquired a new position in Global Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.