Global Payments Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.25 (NYSE:GPN)

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, August 1st, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the business services provider on Friday, September 29th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th.

Global Payments has raised its dividend payment by an average of 64.4% annually over the last three years. Global Payments has a payout ratio of 8.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Global Payments to earn $11.11 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 9.0%.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $125.11 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. Global Payments has a fifty-two week low of $92.27 and a fifty-two week high of $135.59. The stock has a market cap of $32.53 billion, a PE ratio of 41.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $119.09 and a 200-day moving average of $108.74.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The business services provider reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.19. Global Payments had a return on equity of 10.98% and a net margin of 8.65%. The business had revenue of $2.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.23 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Global Payments will post 9.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other news, CFO Joshua J. Whipple sold 37,096 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.28, for a total transaction of $4,721,578.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,062,180.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Joshua J. Whipple sold 37,096 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.28, for a total value of $4,721,578.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 39,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,062,180.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 2,016 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.47, for a total value of $240,851.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 25,045 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,992,126.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Global Payments by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,819,457 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,138,638,000 after buying an additional 134,403 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Global Payments by 24.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,518,268 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $370,263,000 after acquiring an additional 698,913 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Global Payments by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,055,514 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $303,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,338 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $261,300,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 1.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,433,239 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $196,125,000 after purchasing an additional 17,882 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GPN shares. Mizuho lifted their price target on Global Payments from $100.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. B. Riley assumed coverage on Global Payments in a research note on Friday, June 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $179.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $125.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 10th. Finally, Stephens raised their price target on Global Payments from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.63.

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 three segments: Merchant Solutions, Issuer Solutions, and Consumer 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.