Brokerages Set Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) PT at $151.92

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty-six ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and twenty have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $151.92.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GPN shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $129.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $365,933,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $1,078,525,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703,434 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 338.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,288,108 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $379,416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,537,941 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at $197,875,000. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 40.5% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,142,771 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $591,613,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481,714 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

Global Payments Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Global Payments stock traded down $1.91 on Tuesday, hitting $122.77. 2,616,374 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,166,954. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $128.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Global Payments has a 52 week low of $95.12 and a 52 week high of $141.77. The company has a market cap of $31.32 billion, a PE ratio of 32.48, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The company's revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Global Payments will post 10.94 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Global Payments's payout ratio is currently 26.46%.

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.