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

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors acquired 4,666 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 76% compared to the average daily volume of 2,645 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Global Payments by 13.4% during 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 buying an additional 349,457 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Global Payments by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 106.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 26,104 shares during the last quarter. Focused Investors LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $99,969,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Global Payments by 4.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 72,992 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Global Payments Price Performance

GPN opened at $97.55 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $103.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $107.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Global Payments has a 1 year low of $90.99 and a 1 year high of $133.63. The stock has a market cap of $23.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.79, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Global Payments Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid 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 (DPR) is 16.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Global Payments from $166.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Global Payments from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Global Payments from $138.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Stephens cut Global Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.33.

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.