Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) PT Lowered to $155.00 at Citigroup

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) had its price target reduced by Citigroup from $163.00 to $155.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the business services provider’s stock.

GPN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Global Payments from $182.00 to $150.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush boosted their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Mizuho reiterated a neutral rating and set a $129.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $150.00.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of GPN stock traded up $0.83 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $111.37. The company had a trading volume of 3,191,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,029,470. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $127.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.69. Global Payments has a 52-week low of $95.12 and a 52-week high of $141.77. The stock has a market cap of $28.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 13.40%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Global Payments will post 10.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 19.84%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GPN. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,525,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703,434 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 40.5% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $591,613,000 after buying an additional 1,481,714 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 2.7% during 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. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 3.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,499,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $403,849,000 after acquiring an additional 116,664 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Global Payments by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,402,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $392,657,000 after purchasing an additional 89,057 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.