Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Short Interest Down 6.5% in March

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,710,000 shares, a drop of 6.5% from the March 15th total of 7,180,000 shares. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,300,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Global Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $154.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Global Payments from $138.00 to $137.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Global Payments from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $151.92.

Global Payments Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE GPN traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $123.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,583,140 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,247,444. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $131.42 and a 200 day moving average of $124.16. Global Payments has a twelve month low of $95.12 and a twelve month high of $141.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.87, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The business services provider reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $0.01. Global Payments had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 11.44%. The business had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.30 earnings per share. Global Payments's revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Global Payments will post 10.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. Global Payments's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.46%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Clear Street Markets LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Garner Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Institutional investors own 89.76% of the company's stock.

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.