Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totaling 10,065,456 shares, an increase of 39.9% from the November 30th total of 7,194,623 shares. Approximately 4.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,620,967 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.8 days. Based on an average trading volume of 2,620,967 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.8 days. Approximately 4.3% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Global Payments to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Global Payments from $90.00 to $85.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on 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 price objective on Global Payments from $92.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Global Payments currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.29.

Global Payments Trading Down 0.3%

Global Payments stock opened at $80.07 on Tuesday. Global Payments has a 1 year low of $65.93 and a 1 year high of $115.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $78.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $18.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.82.

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 26th. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 14.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Global Payments news, EVP David M. Sheffield sold 2,016 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.41, for a total value of $164,122.56. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 14,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,397.58. This trade represents a 12.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider David Lawrence Green sold 11,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.99, for a total transaction of $927,884.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 68,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,446,999.04. The trade was a 14.56% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 14,723 shares of company stock valued at $1,186,772 and have sold 18,080 shares valued at $1,439,350. Insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Global Payments

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

Global Payments Company Profile

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.