Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Downgraded by TD Cowen to "Hold"

Key Points

• Global Payments has been downgraded from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating by TD Cowen, indicating a shift in analyst sentiment towards the stock.
• Despite the downgrade, other analysts have raised their target prices for Global Payments, with estimates now ranging from $85.00 to $93.00.
• In its latest quarterly earnings, Global Payments reported an EPS of $3.10, exceeding expectations and reflecting a 1.6% year-over-year revenue growth.

TD Cowen lowered shares of Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on GPN. KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $100.00 price target (up from $90.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Mizuho raised shares of Global Payments from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $86.00 to $114.00 in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nineteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $112.21.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $87.99. The stock had a trading volume of 1,641,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,788,298. The company has a 50 day moving average of $82.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.61. Global Payments has a twelve month low of $65.93 and a twelve month high of $120.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $21.35 billion, a PE ratio of 15.38, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.93.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.93 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict 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, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 12th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.48%.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In other news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $172,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 30,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,641,318. This represents a 6.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the 2nd quarter valued at $273,844,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 32.6% during the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,050,253 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $884,462,000 after acquiring an additional 2,716,156 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 75,379.7% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,517,141 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $148,558,000 after purchasing an additional 1,515,131 shares during the period. Contour Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $147,695,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments during the first quarter worth about $94,107,000. 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.