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

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 9,654 call options on the company. This is an increase of 134% compared to the typical daily volume of 4,118 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,210 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $841,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its holdings in Global Payments by 27.2% during the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 543 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 8,257 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $846,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 1.2% during the second quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 11,588 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co boosted its position in Global Payments by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 3,180 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $425,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GPN shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Global Payments from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. William Blair cut Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Global Payments from $145.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $136.50.

Global Payments Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of GPN stock opened at $111.92 on Friday. Global Payments has a 12 month low of $91.60 and a 12 month high of $141.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $104.58 and a 200-day moving average of $103.83. The firm has a market cap of $28.48 billion, a PE ratio of 21.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) 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. On average, equities analysts predict that Global Payments will post 11.04 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.83%.

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.