Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Receives $134.33 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-six ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have issued a hold recommendation and fourteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $134.33.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price target on Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Global Payments Price Performance

Global Payments stock opened at $97.03 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $104.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.68. Global Payments has a one year low of $90.99 and a one year high of $136.36. The company has a market capitalization of $23.86 billion, a PE ratio of 15.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its quarterly 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). Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Global Payments will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued 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 1.03%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.18%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Norges Bank bought a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $345,823,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. Contour Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at about $147,695,000. Focused Investors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at about $99,969,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $203,047,000 after purchasing an additional 785,539 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by 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.