Barclays Cuts Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Price Target to $160.00

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) had its price objective decreased by Barclays from $170.00 to $160.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

GPN has been the topic of a number of other reports. TheStreet raised Global Payments from a c rating to a b- rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. B. Riley lifted their price target on Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Global Payments from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on Global Payments from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE:GPN opened at $122.16 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $130.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.16 billion, a PE ratio of 32.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Global Payments has a twelve month low of $95.12 and a twelve month high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. Global Payments’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Global Payments will post 10.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 26.46%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Global Payments by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 12,528,048 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,591,064,000 after purchasing an additional 650,274 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Global Payments by 1.3% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,819,457 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,138,638,000 after acquiring an additional 134,403 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Global Payments by 40.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,525,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703,434 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its stake in Global Payments by 40.5% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $591,613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481,714 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Global Payments by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,087,801 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $646,151,000 after acquiring an additional 132,635 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Global Payments Company Profile

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.