Global Payments Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:GPN)

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors acquired 4,666 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 76% compared to the average daily volume of 2,645 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GPN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Citigroup reduced their target price on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 target price (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.33.

Global Payments Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of GPN traded down $1.56 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $97.91. 533,220 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,036,136. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Global Payments has a fifty-two week low of $90.99 and a fifty-two week high of $133.63. The business has a 50-day moving average of $103.93 and a 200-day moving average of $107.44.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. On average, research analysts expect that Global Payments will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 16.18%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Global Payments by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,995,107 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,800,952,000 after buying an additional 179,195 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 8,298,846 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $929,969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,659,984 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,230,322 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $696,362,000 after purchasing an additional 301,877 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,499,729 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $564,437,000 after purchasing an additional 83,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at $345,823,000. 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.