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

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 13th,NASDAQ Dividends reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the business services provider on Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th.

Global Payments has raised its dividend by an average of 4.0% annually over the last three years. Global Payments has a dividend payout ratio of 6.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Global Payments to earn $12.08 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 8.3%.

Global Payments Trading Down 4.3 %

Global Payments stock opened at $104.12 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $111.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.56. Global Payments has a 52 week low of $91.60 and a 52 week high of $141.77. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $26.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.01.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 13.61%. Research analysts forecast that Global Payments will post 11 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GPN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $135.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. acquired 5,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.98% 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.