Short Interest in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) Drops By 16.3%

Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of February. As of February 27th, there was short interest totaling 10,513,295 shares, a drop of 16.3% from the February 12th total of 12,565,607 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,487,775 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Approximately 3.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Approximately 3.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,487,775 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Global Payments

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GPN. Strive Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. North Star Investment Management Corp. raised its stake in shares of Global Payments by 242.2% in the third quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 308 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in shares of Global Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, SouthState Bank Corp acquired a new position in shares of Global Payments in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stephens lowered their price target on Global Payments from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Global Payments in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Global Payments from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 24th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Global Payments in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Global Payments from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.36.

Global Payments Price Performance

Shares of GPN stock traded down $1.34 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $67.34. The company had a trading volume of 1,074,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,848,231. Global Payments has a 12 month low of $65.93 and a 12 month high of $100.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.69. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $74.73 and its 200 day moving average is $79.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.62, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 0.73.

Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The business services provider reported $3.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.16 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. Global Payments had a return on equity of 12.72% and a net margin of 16.92%.Global Payments’s revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.85 EPS. Global Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 13.800-14.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Global Payments will post 11.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Global Payments Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Global Payments’s payout ratio is currently 17.27%.

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.