How to buy Global Payments stock | 171.97

Global Payments Inc is a specialty business services business based in the US. Global Payments shares (GPN) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Global Payments employs 24,000 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$6.7 billion.

How to buy shares in Global Payments

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Global Payments. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: GPN. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Global Payments reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$171.97, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Global Payments, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Global Payments. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

How has coronavirus impacted Global Payments's share price?

Since the stock market crash in March caused by coronavirus, Global Payments's share price has had significant negative movement.

Its last market close was USD$171.97, which is 15.86% down on its pre-crash value of USD$204.39 and 62.94% up on the lowest point reached during the March crash when the shares fell as low as USD$105.54.

If you had bought USD$1,000 worth of Global Payments shares at the start of February 2020, those shares would have been worth USD$586.15 at the bottom of the March crash, and if you held on to them, then as of the last market close they'd be worth USD$868.45.

Global Payments share price

Use our graph to track the performance of GPN stocks over time.

Global Payments shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-10-20.

Latest market close	USD$171.97
52-week range	USD$105.54 - USD$209.62
50-day moving average	USD$176.268
200-day moving average	USD$171.1082
Wall St. target price	USD$207.88
PE ratio	138.3281
Dividend yield	USD$0.78 (0.45%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$1.394

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Is it a good time to buy Global Payments stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Global Payments Inc by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Global Payments price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $171.97 from 2020-10-19

1 week (2020-11-18)	-8.49%
1 month (2020-10-23)	-2.84%
3 months (2020-08-25)	-1.10%
6 months (2020-05-22)	-2.70%

1 year (2019-11-25)	-4.27%
2 years (2018-11-23)	66.75%
3 years (2017-11-24)	66.20%
5 years (2015-11-25)	137.40%

Is Global Payments under- or over-valued?

Valuing Global Payments stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Global Payments's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Global Payments's P/E ratio

Global Payments's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 138x. In other words, Global Payments shares trade at around 138x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

Global Payments's PEG ratio

Global Payments's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 0.8093. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Global Payments's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Global Payments's EBITDA

Global Payments's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$2.5 billion.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Global Payments's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Global Payments financials

Revenue TTM	USD$6.7 billion
Operating margin TTM	16.7%
Gross profit TTM	USD$2.9 billion
Return on assets TTM	2.38%
Return on equity TTM	2.58%
Profit margin	5.68%
Book value	$91.65
Market capitalisation	USD$52.2 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Global Payments shares

There are currently 3.8 million Global Payments shares held short by investors – that's known as Global Payments's "short interest". This figure is 8.1% up from 3.6 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Global Payments shares can be evaluated.

Global Payments's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Global Payments's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Global Payments shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Global Payments shares traded daily (recently around 1.8 million). Global Payments's SIR currently stands at 2.17. In other words for every 100,000 Global Payments shares traded daily on the market, roughly 2170 shares are currently held short.

However Global Payments's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Global Payments shares, or, against the total number of tradable Global Payments shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Global Payments's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Global Payments shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.0148% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Global Payments shares, roughly 15 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Global Payments.

Find out more about how you can short Global Payments stock.

Global Payments's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Global Payments.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Global Payments's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 22.95

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Global Payments's overall score of 22.95 (as at 10/01/2020) is pretty good – landing it in it in the 21st percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Global Payments is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Global Payments's environmental score

Environmental score: 4.16/100

Global Payments's environmental score of 4.16 puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Global Payments is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Global Payments's social score

Social score: 15.45/100

Global Payments's social score of 15.45 puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Global Payments is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

Global Payments's governance score

Governance score: 12.34/100

Global Payments's governance score puts it squarely in the 7th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Global Payments is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

Global Payments's controversy score

Controversy score: 2/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Global Payments scored a 2 out of 5 for controversy – the second-highest score possible, reflecting that Global Payments has, for the most part, managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Global Payments Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2020-10-01.

Total ESG score	22.95
Total ESG percentile	20.92
Environmental score	4.16
Environmental score percentile	7
Social score	15.45
Social score percentile	7
Governance score	12.34
Governance score percentile	7
Level of controversy	2

Global Payments share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 12.56% of net profits

Recently Global Payments has paid out, on average, around 12.56% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 0.45% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Global Payments shareholders could enjoy a 0.45% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Global Payments's case, that would currently equate to about $0.78 per share.

While Global Payments's payout ratio might seem low, this can signify that Global Payments is investing more in its future growth.

Global Payments's most recent dividend payout was on 24 September 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 9 September 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Global Payments's shares ever split?

Global Payments's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 3 November 2015. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Global Payments shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Global Payments shares which in turn could have impacted Global Payments's share price.

Global Payments share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Global Payments's shares have ranged in value from as little as $105.54 up to $209.62. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Global Payments's is 1.1009. This would suggest that Global Payments's shares are a little bit more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a slightly higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

Global Payments overview

Global Payments Inc. provides payment technology and software solutions for card, electronic, check, and digital-based payments in North America, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates through three segments: Merchant Solutions, Issuer Solutions, and Business and Consumer Solutions. The Merchant Solutions segment offers authorization services, settlement and funding services, customer support and help-desk functions, chargeback resolution, terminal rental, sales and deployment, payment security services, consolidated billing and statements, and on-line reporting services. This segment also provides an array of enterprise software solutions that streamline business operations of its customers in various vertical markets; and value-added services, such as point-of-sale solutions, and analytic and engagement tools, as well as payroll services. The Issuer Solutions segment offers solutions that enable financial institutions and retailers to manage their card portfolios through a platform; and commercial payments and ePayables solutions for businesses and governments. The Business and Consumer Solutions segment provides general-purpose reloadable prepaid debit and payroll cards, demand deposit accounts, and other financial service solutions to the underbanked and other consumers, and businesses under the Netspend brand. It markets its products and services through direct sales force, trade associations, agent and enterprise software providers, referral arrangements with value-added resellers, and independent sales organizations. The company was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Global Payments is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.804% of Global Payments shares are held by insiders and 91.362% by institutions.

• How many people work for Global Payments?

  Latest data suggests 24,000 work at Global Payments.

• When does the fiscal year end for Global Payments?

  Global Payments's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Global Payments based?

  Global Payments's address is: 3550 Lenox Road, Atlanta, GA, United States, 30326

• What is Global Payments's ISIN number?

  Global Payments's international securities identification number is: US37940X1028

• What is Global Payments's CUSIP number?

  Global Payments's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 37940X102