Morgan Stanley Increases Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Price Target to $164.00

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) had its target price upped by Morgan Stanley from $160.00 to $164.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $160.00 to $157.00 and set a positive rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of Global Payments from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Global Payments from $160.00 to $152.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $158.00 to $150.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-one have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $150.00.

Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE GPN traded up $0.83 on Thursday, hitting $111.37. 3,191,218 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,029,470. The business’s fifty day moving average is $127.50 and its 200 day moving average is $124.69. Global Payments has a 52 week low of $95.12 and a 52 week high of $141.77. The company has a market capitalization of $28.43 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Global Payments by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 159,951 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $21,379,000 after acquiring an additional 19,381 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the first quarter worth $222,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the first quarter valued at $1,716,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in Global Payments during the 1st quarter worth $399,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 3,174 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $424,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.