Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) saw a large drop in short interest in 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. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,300,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days. Approximately 2.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GPN shares. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Global Payments from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on Global Payments from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. TheStreet upgraded Global Payments from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $152.31.

Global Payments Price Performance

GPN traded up $1.02 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $124.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 723,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,235,045. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $131.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $124.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.96. Global Payments has a 12 month low of $95.12 and a 12 month high of $141.77.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Global Payments will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Clear Street Markets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Garner Asset Management Corp bought a new position in Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.