Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Lowered to Market Perform at William Blair

William Blair lowered shares of Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. William Blair also issued estimates for Global Payments’ Q3 2024 earnings at $2.97 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $2.76 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $10.98 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $2.69 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $3.10 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $3.30 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $3.01 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $12.10 EPS.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Stephens reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. StockNews.com raised Global Payments from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Global Payments from $124.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $152.00 to $125.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a positive rating and set a $147.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $141.36.

Global Payments Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of GPN opened at $101.02 on Wednesday. Global Payments has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77. The firm has a market cap of $25.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.04, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $105.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $109.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is presently 19.84%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

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