Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Upgraded at StockNews.com

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

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on GPN. Barclays reduced their target price on Global Payments from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Global Payments from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Global Payments from $105.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, April 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.43.

Global Payments Price Performance

NYSE:GPN opened at $82.90 on Thursday. Global Payments has a 52 week low of $65.93 and a 52 week high of $120.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $20.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $85.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.88.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.73 by $0.09. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Global Payments will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.13%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth about $282,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,708 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $303,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 1,559.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 548,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $61,502,000 after acquiring an additional 515,763 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $825,000 after acquiring an additional 1,604 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retireful LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 231.0% during the 4th quarter. Retireful LLC now owns 19,716 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,209,000 after acquiring an additional 13,760 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.