Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Earns In-Line Rating from Analysts at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage set an “in-line” rating and a $85.00 price target on the business services provider’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 7.14% from the company’s previous close.

GPN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Global Payments from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Stephens lowered Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 price target (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $130.52.

Global Payments Stock Down 3.9 %

Global Payments stock opened at $79.33 on Wednesday. Global Payments has a 52 week low of $77.07 and a 52 week high of $129.35. The firm has a market cap of $19.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $100.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Global Payments by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $330,516,000 after purchasing an additional 349,457 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd acquired a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth about $349,000. Caprock Group LLC boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Global Payments by 106.1% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 50,705 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,682,000 after acquiring an additional 26,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focused Investors LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $99,969,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

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.