Short Interest in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Drops By 5.3%

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,290,000 shares, a decline of 5.3% from the October 15th total of 6,640,000 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,280,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in Global Payments in the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Global Payments during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays dropped 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. Oppenheimer started coverage on Global Payments in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. BNP Paribas upgraded Global Payments to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Monness Crespi & Hardt cut their price objective on Global Payments from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, B. Riley reduced their target price on Global Payments from $204.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $136.50.

Global Payments Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of GPN stock opened at $116.06 on Tuesday. Global Payments has a twelve month low of $91.60 and a twelve month high of $141.77. The stock has a market cap of $29.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.86, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.97. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $105.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $103.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.83%.

Global Payments Company Profile

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.