Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Global Payments Call Options (NYSE:GPN)

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 10,198 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 157% compared to the typical volume of 3,968 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt lowered their price target on Global Payments from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays lowered their target price on Global Payments from $145.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 30th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Global Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $147.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Global Payments from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $139.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Global Payments news, CAO David M. Sheffield sold 1,651 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.73, for a total transaction of $166,305.23. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,068,087.63. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.98% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GPN. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments during the second quarter worth $32,000. West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 54.5% in the first quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 309 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. grew its holdings in Global Payments by 154.7% during the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 354 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE:GPN opened at $100.61 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $25.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $105.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.03. Global Payments has a fifty-two week low of $91.60 and a fifty-two week high of $141.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The business services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 11.93% and a net margin of 14.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.48 EPS. Analysts expect that Global Payments will post 11.07 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.32%.

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.