Short Interest in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Declines By 7.0%

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,320,000 shares, a decrease of 7.0% from the July 15th total of 5,720,000 shares. Approximately 2.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,350,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days.

Insider Activity

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 4th quarter worth $2,774,000. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Global Payments by 406.6% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 12,381 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,572,000 after purchasing an additional 9,937 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Global Payments by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 26,425 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,356,000 after buying an additional 1,682 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Global Payments by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 112,996 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $14,350,000 after buying an additional 23,105 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 32,774 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $4,162,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the period. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Global Payments Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $108.65 on Wednesday. Global Payments has a 1 year low of $91.60 and a 1 year high of $141.77. The firm has a market cap of $27.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.56, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $98.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $113.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 13.40%. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.48 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Global Payments will post 11.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 19.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPN has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $158.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $111.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Mizuho decreased their target price on Global Payments from $129.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Global Payments from $182.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their price target on Global Payments from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $141.48.

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.