Global Payments Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:GPN)

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders purchased 9,654 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 134% compared to the average daily volume of 4,118 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GPN. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Global Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating and set a $147.00 price target on shares of Global Payments in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Global Payments from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $143.00 to $130.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $136.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total value of $166,305.23. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at $2,068,087.63. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.98% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stanley Capital Management LLC grew its position in Global Payments by 18.9% in the second quarter. Stanley Capital Management LLC now owns 125,608 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $12,146,000 after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 267,483 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $35,775,000 after purchasing an additional 29,289 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its position in Global Payments by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 302,364 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $40,414,000 after acquiring an additional 24,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 20.6% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 172,939 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $16,723,000 after purchasing an additional 29,503 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN stock traded up $7.67 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $115.04. 3,809,099 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,292,698. Global Payments has a twelve month low of $91.60 and a twelve month high of $141.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $29.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $104.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $103.83.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.94% and a net margin of 13.61%. Global Payments's quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.48 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Global Payments will post 11.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is 18.83%.

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.