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

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 4,599 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 71% compared to the average daily volume of 2,696 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP David M. Sheffield sold 2,016 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value of $164,122.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 14,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,175,397.58. This trade represents a 12.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Connie D. Mcdaniel sold 4,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.81, for a total value of $347,343.84. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 30,014 shares in the company, valued at $2,335,389.34. The trade was a 12.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 14,723 shares of company stock worth $1,186,772 and have sold 18,080 shares worth $1,439,350. Insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GPN. Norges Bank bought a new position in Global Payments during the second quarter valued at approximately $273,844,000. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Global Payments by 32.6% in the 2nd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 11,050,253 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $884,462,000 after buying an additional 2,716,156 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Global Payments by 112.3% in the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,281,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $189,545,000 after purchasing an additional 1,206,807 shares during the period. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 77.5% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,001,585 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $186,107,000 after acquiring an additional 874,175 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Global Payments during the first quarter valued at $66,441,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Down 0.8%

Global Payments stock traded down $0.68 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $79.36. 1,061,263 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,621,661. Global Payments has a 52-week low of $65.93 and a 52-week high of $115.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $78.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.82.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The business services provider reported $3.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.41 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.66% and a net margin of 19.68%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.08 EPS. Global Payments has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.600-6.666 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Global Payments will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 26th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is 14.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on Global Payments from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Global Payments to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Global Payments from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Global Payments from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.29.

About Global Payments

Global Payments Inc (NYSE: GPN) is a worldwide provider of payment technology and software solutions that enables commerce for merchants, issuers and enterprises. The company develops and operates payment processing networks, point-of-sale systems and cloud-based software that facilitate electronic transactions across in-store, online and mobile channels. Its services span merchant acquiring, payment gateway services, omnichannel commerce platforms, and solutions for recurring and subscription billing.

Global Payments offers a range of products and services including integrated payment terminals and point-of-sale software, e-commerce and gateway technologies, fraud prevention and tokenization tools, and business analytics and reporting.