Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $91.98 and last traded at $90.7460, with a volume of 326194 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $88.53.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on GPN. Wolfe Research upgraded Global Payments from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $110.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Global Payments from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Barclays set a $89.00 price target on shares of Global Payments and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $120.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.68.

Global Payments Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.20. The company has a market cap of $24.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.21, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The business services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.02. Global Payments had a positive return on equity of 13.80% and a negative net margin of 9.16%.The company had revenue of $3.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.16 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 68.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Global Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.600-13.800 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 13.67 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently -33.56%.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strive Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the 1st quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Global Payments in the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

About Global Payments

Global Payments Inc (NYSE: GPN) is a worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions that enables commerce for merchants, issuers and enterprises. The company develops and operates payment processing networks, point-of-sale systems and cloud-based software that facilitate electronic transactions across in-store, online and mobile channels. Its services span merchant acquiring, payment gateway services, omnichannel commerce platforms, and solutions for recurring and subscription billing.

Global Payments offers a range of products and services including integrated payment terminals and point-of-sale software, e-commerce and gateway technologies, fraud prevention and tokenization tools, and business analytics and reporting.