Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Research Coverage Started at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued an equal weight rating and a $100.00 target price on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on GPN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $129.00 to $105.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $147.36.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $94.19 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $24.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $111.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $123.22. Global Payments has a one year low of $92.45 and a one year high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.17 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.40% and a return on equity of 11.72%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Global Payments will post 11.08 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.84%.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In related news, VP Andrea M. Carter sold 3,300 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.34, for a total transaction of $367,422.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 25,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,806,770.06. The sale 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 insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its position in Global Payments by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 564 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC bought a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at about $210,000. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. grew its position in Global Payments by 35.4% during the fourth quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 46,953 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,963,000 after buying an additional 12,273 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its position in Global Payments by 60.5% during the third quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 19,593 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,261,000 after buying an additional 7,387 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 82,672 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $10,499,000 after purchasing an additional 18,615 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Company Profile

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.