Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on GPN. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $147.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas raised shares of Global Payments to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $100.00 price target for the company. William Blair raised shares of Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $142.59.

Global Payments Trading Up 1.5 %

GPN stock opened at $112.97 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.84 billion, a PE ratio of 22.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.98. 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 has a one year low of $91.60 and a one year high of $141.77. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $105.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $110.39.

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

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction 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 owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,087.63. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 67.1% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 25,716 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,266,000 after purchasing an additional 10,330 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in Global Payments by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 34,922 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 7,369 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $587,000. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 2,060 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,656 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.