Traders Purchase High Volume of Global Payments Call Options (NYSE:GPN)

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 4,666 call options on the company. This is an increase of 76% compared to the average volume of 2,645 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GPN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $122.00 price objective (down previously from $155.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Global Payments currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Global Payments by 26.7% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 23,136 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,370,000 after buying an additional 4,874 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 40,301 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,128,000 after acquiring an additional 1,496 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 11.0% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 34,101 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,389 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its stake in Global Payments by 4.4% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 3,892 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new position in Global Payments during the third quarter valued at $323,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN stock traded down $1.92 during trading on Friday, reaching $97.55. The stock had a trading volume of 1,830,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,148,215. The firm has a market cap of $23.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.79, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $103.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.35. Global Payments has a 52 week low of $90.99 and a 52 week high of $133.63.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Global Payments will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.18%.

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.