Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Shares Gap Up - Here's What Happened

Shares of Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $77.61, but opened at $82.25. Global Payments shares last traded at $80.48, with a volume of 1,147,807 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research reiterated a "peer perform" rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Global Payments from $105.00 to $77.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $111.55.

Global Payments Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $19.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. The firm's fifty day moving average is $78.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $90.66.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The business services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 12.33%. Global Payments's quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.59 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Global Payments Inc. will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Global Payments's payout ratio is currently 16.13%.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Global Payments by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $2,800,952,000 after purchasing an additional 179,195 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Global Payments by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,334,097 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $816,075,000 after purchasing an additional 35,251 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Global Payments by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,230,322 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $696,362,000 after purchasing an additional 301,877 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth $345,823,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Global Payments by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,906,444 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $325,698,000 after purchasing an additional 259,590 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.