Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) Shares Gap Up on Strong Earnings

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $78.41, but opened at $87.70. Global Payments shares last traded at $82.37, with a volume of 856,553 shares changing hands.

The business services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 12.33%. The company’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.93 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada cut shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $86.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $125.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $75.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Friday, April 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.65.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 32.6% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,050,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $884,462,000 after purchasing an additional 2,716,156 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 75,379.7% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,517,141 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $148,558,000 after purchasing an additional 1,515,131 shares during the period. Contour Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $147,695,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 1st quarter worth approximately $94,107,000. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 77.5% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,001,585 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $186,107,000 after purchasing an additional 874,175 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Up 9.3%

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $79.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $20.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.82, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.93.

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.