Susquehanna Cuts Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Price Target to $147.00

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) had its price target lowered by Susquehanna from $157.00 to $147.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a positive rating on the business services provider’s stock.

GPN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $182.00 to $150.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt dropped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Global Payments from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $141.92.

Global Payments Trading Down 1.9 %

Global Payments stock traded down $2.00 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $102.06. The stock had a trading volume of 2,125,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,308,252. 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 52-week low of $91.60 and a 52-week high of $141.77. The firm has a market cap of $26.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a fifty day moving average of $97.48 and a 200 day moving average of $115.28.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.40% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.48 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Global Payments will post 11.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 19.84%.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,068,087.63. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the first quarter worth $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the first quarter worth $32,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the second quarter worth $32,000. Finally, West Paces Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 54.5% during the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.