Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Tuesday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on GPN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. William Blair cut Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $147.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Global Payments in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $136.50.

Global Payments Price Performance

GPN opened at $116.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $105.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.52 billion, a PE ratio of 21.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.97. Global Payments has a 52-week low of $91.60 and a 52-week high of $141.77.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.83%.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,928,445 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $605,078,000 after purchasing an additional 31,934 shares during the last quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Global Payments by 12.4% during the third quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 25,169 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,578,000 after buying an additional 2,779 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC raised its position in Global Payments by 94.4% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 517 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 251 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 77,386 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,926,000 after acquiring an additional 4,692 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 21,169 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,168,000 after acquiring an additional 1,397 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

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.