Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

GPN has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Global Payments from $111.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $147.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. B. Riley dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $204.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $164.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.36.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $101.02 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $25.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $105.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.52. Global Payments has a 52 week low of $91.60 and a 52 week high of $141.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

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

Insider Activity at Global Payments

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

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GPN. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 22,795 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,895,000 after purchasing an additional 904 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 14,978 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,902,000 after acquiring an additional 3,294 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 10,634 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 73.9% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 5,924 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $752,000 after acquiring an additional 2,517 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 115,237 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,635,000 after acquiring an additional 5,833 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.