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

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) had its price objective increased by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $160.00 to $164.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 49.24% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $129.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. 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 report on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Global Payments from $143.00 to $128.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. TheStreet raised Global Payments from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Global Payments from $145.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $150.04.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.8 %

Global Payments stock traded up $0.83 during trading on Thursday, reaching $109.89. 2,610,466 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,252,016. The company’s 50-day moving average is $128.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.82. 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 has a 52-week low of $95.12 and a 52-week high of $141.77. The firm has a market cap of $28.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.95, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.97.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Global Payments will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 40.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,346,779 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,078,525,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703,434 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its stake 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 worth $591,613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,481,714 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,087,801 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $646,151,000 after acquiring an additional 132,635 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Global Payments by 3.4% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,499,860 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $403,849,000 after acquiring an additional 116,664 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Global Payments by 2.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,402,869 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $392,657,000 after purchasing an additional 89,057 shares in the last quarter. 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.