Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Lowers Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Price Target to $150.00

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) had its target price lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $158.00 to $150.00 in a report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the business services provider’s stock.

GPN has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $160.00 to $157.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $150.00.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN stock traded up $0.83 during trading on Thursday, hitting $111.37. The company had a trading volume of 3,191,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,029,470. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $127.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97. Global Payments has a 52 week low of $95.12 and a 52 week high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 13.40% and a return on equity of 11.72%. Global Payments’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Global Payments will post 10.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 19.84%.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the third quarter worth $27,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Global Payments by 54.5% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its position in Global Payments by 154.7% during the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 354 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

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.