Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Short Interest Up 10.0% in November

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,920,000 shares, an increase of 10.0% from the October 31st total of 6,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,310,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.0 days. Currently, 2.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Global Payments in the first quarter worth about $4,576,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 531.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 24,238 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,240,000 after purchasing an additional 20,402 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Global Payments by 34.9% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 4,284 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $573,000 after buying an additional 1,108 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in shares of Global Payments by 683.6% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 2,821 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 2,461 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of Global Payments by 27.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GPN shares. B. Riley reduced their price objective on Global Payments from $204.00 to $194.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Global Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $135.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Global Payments from $164.00 to $156.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com raised Global Payments from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $147.00 price objective on shares of Global Payments in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Global Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $137.41.

Global Payments Stock Performance

GPN stock traded down $1.33 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $116.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 499,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,267,493. Global Payments has a 1 year low of $91.60 and a 1 year high of $141.77. The stock has a market cap of $29.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.27, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $107.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $103.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Global Payments’s dividend payout ratio is 18.83%.

About Global Payments

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.