Monness Crespi & Hardt Cuts Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Price Target to $155.00

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) had its price target trimmed by Monness Crespi & Hardt from $165.00 to $155.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a buy rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on GPN. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. William Blair downgraded Global Payments from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. B. Riley decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $204.00 to $194.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $141.36.

Global Payments Stock Up 3.4 %

NYSE:GPN opened at $101.02 on Wednesday. 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 has a 12-month low of $91.60 and a 12-month high of $141.77. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.32. The firm has a market capitalization 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.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.48 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Global Payments will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 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 stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Global Payments by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 22,795 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,895,000 after buying an additional 904 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Global Payments by 28.2% during the 4th 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 during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Global Payments by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 10,634 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 621 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC raised its stake in 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 valued at $752,000 after purchasing an additional 2,517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in 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 worth $14,635,000 after purchasing an additional 5,833 shares during the period. 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.