Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Stock Price

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) had its price objective reduced by stock analysts at Barclays from $125.00 to $110.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 28.02% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also commented on GPN. Citigroup lowered their price target on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stephens lowered shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $122.00 target price (down from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Global Payments in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.81.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN stock opened at $85.93 on Tuesday. Global Payments has a 1-year low of $77.83 and a 1-year high of $127.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $98.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.60. The firm has a market cap of $21.13 billion, a PE ratio of 13.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) 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). Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Global Payments will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $345,823,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Global Payments by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $929,969,000 after buying an additional 1,659,984 shares during the period. Contour Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at about $147,695,000. Focused Investors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth about $99,969,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Global Payments by 1,559.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 548,833 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $61,502,000 after acquiring an additional 515,763 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.