Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Stock

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) had its target price boosted by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $166.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the business services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 50.12% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Global Payments from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $112.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. BTIG Research lowered shares of Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.55.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.4 %

GPN opened at $110.58 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $110.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.82, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.00. Global Payments has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert H. B. Baldwin, Jr. purchased 5,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $116.00 per share, for a total transaction of $672,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 42,738 shares in the company, valued at $4,957,608. This trade represents a 15.70 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Global Payments by 470.7% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 27,122 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,623,000 after acquiring an additional 22,370 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the second quarter worth $251,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Global Payments in the second quarter valued at $101,000. &PARTNERS acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the second quarter valued at $1,067,000. Finally, Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Nichols & Pratt Advisers LLP MA now owns 90,245 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $8,727,000 after buying an additional 7,809 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.