Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Stock Price

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) had its price objective decreased by Barclays from $135.00 to $125.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stephens cut shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. One equities 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

Global Payments Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of GPN opened at $107.00 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $110.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $108.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.15, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Global Payments has a 1-year low of $91.60 and a 1-year high of $140.38.

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.83%.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the company’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 $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GPN. Cromwell Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the third quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors 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.