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

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 60.5% during the third quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 19,593 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,261,000 after purchasing an additional 7,387 shares during the last quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH bought a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter valued at $1,815,000. AFS Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth $202,000. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 19,519 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,479,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redwood Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at $774,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GPN opened at $122.95 on Thursday. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $95.12 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $130.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $124.21.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Global Payments from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Global Payments from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Global Payments from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Global Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Global Payments currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $151.92.

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.