Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Price Target Cut to $152.00

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) had its target price reduced by stock analysts at TD Cowen from $160.00 to $152.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the business services provider’s stock. TD Cowen’s price objective points to a potential upside of 36.48% from the company’s previous close.

GPN has been the topic of a number of other reports. B. Riley raised their price objective on Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Wedbush raised their price objective on Global Payments from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Barclays cut their price objective on Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Global Payments from $158.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.00.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of GPN traded up $0.83 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $111.37. 3,191,218 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,029,470. Global Payments has a 12-month low of $95.12 and a 12-month high of $141.77. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $127.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $124.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $28.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.30 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Global Payments will post 10.94 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth $365,933,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in Global Payments by 40.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,078,525,000 after buying an additional 2,703,434 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Global Payments by 338.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,288,108 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $379,416,000 after buying an additional 2,537,941 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the 3rd quarter worth about $197,875,000. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its position in Global Payments by 40.5% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 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.