Bank of America Cuts Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Price Target to $149.00

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) had its price objective trimmed by Bank of America from $156.00 to $149.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens cut shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 target price (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $135.76.

Global Payments Price Performance

Global Payments stock opened at $105.67 on Friday. Global Payments has a 12 month low of $91.60 and a 12 month high of $141.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.60. The company has a market cap of $26.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.01.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). Global Payments had a net margin of 13.61% and a return on equity of 11.94%. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Global Payments will post 11 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 18.83%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,957,608. This represents a 15.70 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cromwell Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently 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.