Global Payments Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:GPN)

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 4,666 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 76% compared to the average volume of 2,645 call options.

Institutional Trading of Global Payments

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Global Payments by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,949,458 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $330,516,000 after purchasing an additional 349,457 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Global Payments by 106.1% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 50,705 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $5,682,000 after buying an additional 26,104 shares in the last quarter. Focused Investors LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $99,969,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Global Payments by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,614,533 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $180,925,000 after buying an additional 72,992 shares in the last quarter. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on GPN shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $135.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $156.00 to $149.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Global Payments presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN stock opened at $97.55 on Friday. Global Payments has a 1 year low of $90.99 and a 1 year high of $133.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.79, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $103.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.34.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.98 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. Global Payments had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 12.21%. On average, research analysts predict that Global Payments will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.18%.

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.