The Goldman Sachs Group Begins Coverage on Global Payments (NYSE:GPN)

Stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 19.43% from the stock’s previous close.

GPN has been the subject of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $97.00 price target (up from $95.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Evercore reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $90.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $87.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.36.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN stock opened at $73.68 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.73. Global Payments has a one year low of $65.93 and a one year high of $100.56. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $75.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.75.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.16 by $0.02. Global Payments had a net margin of 16.92% and a return on equity of 12.72%. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.85 EPS. Global Payments’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Global Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.800-14.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. bought 10,392 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $81.42 per share, with a total value of $846,116.64. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 59,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,828,450.26. This trade represents a 21.25% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP David M. Sheffield sold 2,016 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total transaction of $164,122.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 14,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,175,397.58. This trade represents a 12.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GPN. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Global Payments by 40.7% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 36,760 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,845,000 after buying an additional 10,640 shares during the period. Flax Pond Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth about $4,730,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 39.5% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,428,962 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $110,772,000 after acquiring an additional 404,918 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $230,000. Finally, Dean Capital Management increased its stake in Global Payments by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 18,445 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,428,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.