Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Downgraded by BTIG Research to Neutral

BTIG Research cut shares of Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

GPN has been the topic of several other reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. William Blair raised Global Payments to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $152.00 to $125.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 21st. StockNews.com upgraded Global Payments from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $158.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $141.36.

Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE GPN opened at $101.02 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $105.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $109.32. The company has a market capitalization of $25.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.04, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.98. Global Payments has a 1-year low of $91.60 and a 1-year high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 14.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.48 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments will post 11.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 19.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,087.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC bought a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth $210,000. Stanley Capital Management LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 20,000 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 82,672 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $10,499,000 after acquiring an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its holdings in Global Payments by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 267,483 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,775,000 after buying an additional 29,289 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 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.