Susquehanna Reaffirms “Positive” Rating for Global Payments (NYSE:GPN)

Susquehanna reiterated their positive rating on shares of Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) in a report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $147.00 target price on the business services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Global Payments from $172.00 to $158.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. BNP Paribas raised Global Payments to a strong sell rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $152.00 to $125.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Stephens cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $130.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $142.59.

Global Payments Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:GPN opened at $112.97 on Tuesday. 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 quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $105.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $110.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.41, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.98.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 11.93%. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.48 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 54.5% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 154.7% in the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 354 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.