Barclays Lowers Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Price Target to $125.00

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) had its price target reduced by Barclays from $135.00 to $125.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

GPN has been the topic of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stephens downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 target price (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

Global Payments Price Performance

Global Payments stock opened at $105.65 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $26.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01. Global Payments has a one year low of $91.60 and a one year high of $140.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $110.16 and its 200 day moving average is $108.75.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. As a group, research analysts expect that Global Payments will post 12.08 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.18%.

Insider Activity

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $116.00 per share, with a total value of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 42,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,957,608. The trade was a 15.70 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at $345,823,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Global Payments by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $929,969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,659,984 shares during the last quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at about $147,695,000. Focused Investors LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $99,969,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $203,047,000 after purchasing an additional 785,539 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.