StockNews.com Upgrades Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) to “Buy”

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. William Blair downgraded Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. B. Riley cut their target price on Global Payments from $204.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $147.00 target price on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Barclays cut their target price on Global Payments from $145.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $136.50.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN opened at $116.07 on Tuesday. Global Payments has a 52 week low of $91.60 and a 52 week high of $141.77. The firm has a market cap of $29.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.86, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $104.82 and a 200-day moving average of $103.34.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 194.2% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 6,423,463 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $621,149,000 after buying an additional 4,240,388 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 65.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,982,496 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $203,047,000 after buying an additional 785,539 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 188.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,728 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $109,857,000 after buying an additional 755,898 shares in the last quarter. Natixis raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 830.2% in the 1st quarter. Natixis now owns 589,520 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $78,795,000 after buying an additional 526,143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 267.0% in the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 677,854 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $90,602,000 after buying an additional 493,164 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.