Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,710,000 shares, a drop of 6.5% from the March 15th total of 7,180,000 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,300,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. B. Riley increased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $180.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Global Payments from $130.00 to $145.00 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 issued a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $151.92.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.4 %

GPN opened at $122.95 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $130.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.21. Global Payments has a one year low of $95.12 and a one year high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.36 billion, a PE ratio of 32.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.96.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.30 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Global Payments will post 10.94 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is 26.46%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Garner Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Clear Street Markets LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 54.5% in the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

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.