Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Global Payments Inc., purchasing 4,573 shares valued at approximately $448,000.
• Several analysts have recently downgraded their ratings on Global Payments, with Jefferies lowering it from "buy" to "hold" and setting a price target of $75.00.
• Global Payments reported earnings of $3.10 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, and achieved revenue of $2.36 billion.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 4,573 shares of the business services provider's stock, valued at approximately $448,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Goodman Financial Corp raised its holdings in Global Payments by 2.4% in the first quarter. Goodman Financial Corp now owns 126,877 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $12,424,000 after purchasing an additional 3,010 shares in the last quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 291,101 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $28,505,000 after buying an additional 8,168 shares during the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 49,179 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $4,816,000 after acquiring an additional 2,326 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 1st quarter worth approximately $474,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its position in Global Payments by 19.5% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 1,240 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, April 18th. Mizuho raised Global Payments from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $86.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Global Payments from $145.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $100.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $112.00.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN stock traded down $3.65 on Thursday, reaching $81.89. 3,434,379 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,511,954. Global Payments Inc. has a 1 year low of $65.93 and a 1 year high of $120.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $79.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $19.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.93.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.04. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.47% and a net margin of 15.07%. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.13%.

Global Payments 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.