Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Stock Rating Lowered by Royal Bank of Canada

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $86.00 price objective on the business services provider's stock. Royal Bank of Canada's target price would indicate a potential upside of 13.71% from the company's current price.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com raised Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Williams Trading set a $75.00 price objective on Global Payments in a report on Friday, April 18th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Global Payments from $145.00 to $80.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $112.86.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPN traded down $1.00 during trading on Friday, reaching $75.63. The company had a trading volume of 1,054,875 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,424,758. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $90.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $103.63. Global Payments has a fifty-two week low of $65.93 and a fifty-two week high of $124.65.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Global Payments will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Virtu Financial LLC grew its holdings in Global Payments by 79.4% in the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 32,107 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $3,288,000 after purchasing an additional 14,212 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Global Payments by 5.6% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,315 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. Boyar Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Global Payments by 22.4% in the third quarter. Boyar Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,329 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $853,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in Global Payments by 24.3% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 44,394 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $4,547,000 after purchasing an additional 8,677 shares during the period. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the third quarter valued at approximately $253,000. 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.