Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) PT Lowered to $145.00 at Barclays

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) had its price target lowered by Barclays from $160.00 to $145.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on GPN. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Global Payments from $155.00 to $145.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. B. Riley lifted their price objective on Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Global Payments from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $160.00 to $157.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $150.00.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN traded up $0.83 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $111.37. The stock had a trading volume of 3,191,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,029,470. The company has a market capitalization of $28.43 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $127.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.69. Global Payments has a 1 year low of $95.12 and a 1 year high of $141.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 13.40%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Global Payments will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geneva Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Global Payments by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 159,951 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $21,379,000 after acquiring an additional 19,381 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $222,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,716,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $399,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in Global Payments by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 3,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.