Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

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

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on GPN. William Blair cut Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. B. Riley reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $204.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on Global Payments from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $135.71.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of GPN opened at $107.76 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $113.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.29, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.00. Global Payments has a 52 week low of $91.60 and a 52 week high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.83%.

Insider Activity

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,957,608. The trade was a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cromwell Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in Global Payments by 59.6% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 383 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. 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.