Wells Fargo & Company Upgrades Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) to "Strong-Buy"

Key Points

• Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Global Payments to a "strong-buy" rating, signaling a positive outlook from analysts.
• Despite the upgrade, some analysts have recently downgraded their ratings on Global Payments, with a mix of recommendations leading to a consensus rating of "Hold."
• Global Payments reported $3.10 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing expectations, with revenue slightly up 1.6% year-over-year.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on GPN. KeyCorp lowered shares of Global Payments from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen lowered shares of Global Payments from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $103.37.

Global Payments Stock Down 2.2%

GPN opened at $85.73 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $86.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Global Payments has a one year low of $65.93 and a one year high of $120.00.

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

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, General Counsel Dara L. Steele-Belkin sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $172,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 30,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,641,318. The trade was a 6.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Global Payments by 32.6% in the second quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,050,253 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $884,462,000 after purchasing an additional 2,716,156 shares during the last quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Global Payments by 13.8% in the second quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 4,316,892 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $345,524,000 after purchasing an additional 523,209 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Global Payments in the second quarter worth $273,844,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Global Payments by 5.0% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,070,960 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $165,760,000 after purchasing an additional 98,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Global Payments by 77.5% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 2,001,585 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $186,107,000 after purchasing an additional 874,175 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is 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.

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