Investors Purchase High Volume of Global Payments Call Options (NYSE:GPN)

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders bought 4,599 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 71% compared to the typical volume of 2,696 call options.

Insider Transactions at Global Payments

In other Global Payments news, Director Connie D. Mcdaniel sold 4,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.81, for a total transaction of $347,343.84. Following the sale, the director directly owned 30,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,335,389.34. This trade represents a 12.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider David Lawrence Green sold 11,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.99, for a total value of $927,884.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 68,096 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,446,999.04. This represents a 14.56% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 14,723 shares of company stock worth $1,186,772 and have sold 18,080 shares worth $1,439,350. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPN. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Global Payments by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,542,460 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,955,908,000 after acquiring an additional 149,441 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 32.6% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,349,876 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $610,633,000 after purchasing an additional 499,695 shares in the last quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Glenview Capital Management LLC now owns 4,316,892 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $345,524,000 after buying an additional 523,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the second quarter valued at $273,844,000. 89.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Global Payments from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 24th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price objective on shares of Global Payments from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Global Payments in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Global Payments from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $90.00 to $84.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.29.

Global Payments Stock Performance

NYSE:GPN traded down $0.68 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $79.36. 1,061,263 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,621,661. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $78.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Global Payments has a 12 month low of $65.93 and a 12 month high of $115.19.

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

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.04%.

About Global Payments

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.