Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Hold" from the twenty-eight analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $110.91.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Williams Trading set a $75.00 target price on Global Payments in a report on Friday, April 18th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Global Payments from $145.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN traded down $0.71 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $75.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,606,900 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,880,340. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. The company has a market cap of $18.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.96. The business's 50 day moving average price is $79.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.64. Global Payments has a fifty-two week low of $65.93 and a fifty-two week high of $120.00.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. Global Payments's quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.59 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Global Payments will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.13%.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AIA Group Ltd bought a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth approximately $349,000. Oribel Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 495.1% in the 4th quarter. Oribel Capital Management LP now owns 521,300 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $58,417,000 after purchasing an additional 433,700 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Global Payments by 106.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 50,705 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $5,682,000 after buying an additional 26,104 shares during the period. Finally, Focused Investors LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $99,969,000. 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.