Short Interest in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Decreases By 6.5%

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) saw 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. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,300,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on GPN shares. Mizuho restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $129.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. KeyCorp raised 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. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price target on Global Payments from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $151.92.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GPN. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Clear Street Markets LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Garner Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Global Payments Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:GPN traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $123.43. 1,583,140 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,992,215. The firm has a market cap of $31.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.65, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. Global Payments has a 52-week low of $95.12 and a 52-week high of $141.77. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $131.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.21.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 10.22%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.30 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Global Payments will post 10.94 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.46%.

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.