Insider Buying: Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Director Purchases $99,904.86 in Stock

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Director Patricia Watson bought 1,331 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $75.06 per share, for a total transaction of $99,904.86. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 2,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,984.06. The trade was a 100.83% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of GPN stock opened at $77.40 on Thursday. Global Payments Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.93 and a 12 month high of $120.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $18.32 billion, a PE ratio of 13.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $84.28 and a 200-day moving average of $81.98.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The business services provider reported $3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.03. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.07% and a return on equity of 12.47%. The business had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.08 earnings per share. Global Payments has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.600-6.666 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.10.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. North Star Investment Management Corp. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 242.2% during the 3rd quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 308 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments during the third quarter worth about $27,000. SouthState Bank Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 53.4% in the second quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 382 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.