Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-six research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation and fourteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $135.95.

GPN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Global Payments from $156.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $111.38 on Friday. Global Payments has a 52-week low of $91.60 and a 52-week high of $141.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.98, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $114.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.57.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.83%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. acquired 5,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,957,608. This represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Stanley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 18.9% in the second quarter. Stanley Capital Management LLC now owns 125,608 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,146,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Global Payments by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $330,516,000 after buying an additional 349,457 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Global Payments by 65.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $203,047,000 after buying an additional 785,539 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter worth approximately $562,000. Finally, Poplar Forest Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter valued at approximately $13,184,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

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.