Global Payments Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.25 (NYSE:GPN)

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 30th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the business services provider on Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th.

Global Payments has increased its dividend by an average of 8.6% per year over the last three years. Global Payments has a dividend payout ratio of 7.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Global Payments to earn $12.27 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 8.1%.

Global Payments Stock Up 4.4 %

Global Payments stock opened at $103.37 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $26.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.51, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Global Payments has a 12 month low of $91.60 and a 12 month high of $141.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $104.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.37.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 14.26%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.48 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Global Payments will post 11.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on GPN shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $126.00 to $122.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $164.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. B. Riley cut their price target on Global Payments from $204.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.52.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,068,087.63. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Global Payments Company Profile

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.