Global Payments Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:GPN)

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 21,824 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 646% compared to the average volume of 2,924 put options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Global Payments from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Global Payments from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Stephens cut shares of Global Payments from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $130.52.

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Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of Global Payments stock traded up $1.75 on Friday, reaching $84.99. The stock had a trading volume of 2,832,818 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,238,486. The business's 50 day moving average is $98.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.66. The company has a market cap of $20.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.97. Global Payments has a 1 year low of $77.83 and a 1 year high of $127.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.21% and a net margin of 15.54%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Global Payments will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. Global Payments's payout ratio is 16.18%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $330,516,000 after acquiring an additional 349,457 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd bought a new stake in Global Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $349,000. Oribel Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Global Payments by 495.1% during the 4th quarter. Oribel Capital Management LP now owns 521,300 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $58,417,000 after purchasing an additional 433,700 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $259,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Global Payments by 106.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 50,705 shares of the business services provider's stock worth $5,682,000 after buying an additional 26,104 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Global Payments

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.