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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on GPN. Citigroup dropped their target price on Global Payments from $163.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. William Blair raised shares of Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Global Payments from $129.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Global Payments from $160.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $141.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 value of $166,305.23. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

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

Global Payments Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE GPN opened at $109.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.05 billion, a PE ratio of 21.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.98. Global Payments has a one year low of $91.60 and a one year high of $141.77. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.99. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.90 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.57 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 13.40%. Global Payments’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.48 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Global Payments will post 11.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.84%.

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.