Morgan Stanley Trims Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Target Price to $156.00

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) had its target price lowered by Morgan Stanley from $164.00 to $156.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the business services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on GPN. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a positive rating and issued a $147.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. William Blair downgraded Global Payments from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $126.00 to $122.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BTIG Research cut shares of Global Payments from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Global Payments has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $141.36.

Global Payments Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE:GPN opened at $101.02 on Wednesday. Global Payments has a 52-week low of $91.60 and a 52-week high of $141.77. The stock has a market cap of $25.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.04, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a fifty day moving average of $105.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $109.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a net margin of 14.26% and a return on equity of 11.93%. The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.48 earnings per share. Global Payments’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Global Payments will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.84%.

Insider Activity at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of Global Payments stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments in the first quarter valued at $32,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the second quarter worth about $32,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 54.5% during the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.