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

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Free Report) had its price target upped by Morgan Stanley from $160.00 to $164.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the business services provider's stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on GPN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Global Payments from $143.00 to $128.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Global Payments from $158.00 to $150.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. B. Riley upped their price target on Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Global Payments from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $150.04.

Global Payments Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of GPN traded up $1.48 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $110.54. 3,990,286 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,269,543. The company has a market cap of $28.20 billion, a PE ratio of 29.24, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.97. The firm's 50 day moving average is $127.93 and its 200-day moving average is $124.72. Global Payments has a 52 week low of $95.12 and a 52 week high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) 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. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.30 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Global Payments will post 10.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.46%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Global Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Global Payments by 54.5% in the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. boosted its position in Global Payments by 154.7% in the 1st 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 last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.