Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) Stock Price Down 9.2% After Analyst Downgrade

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) shares were down 9.2% during trading on Wednesday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $154.00 to $127.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Shift4 Payments traded as low as $81.24 and last traded at $81.55. Approximately 527,829 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 1,608,703 shares. The stock had previously closed at $89.86.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on FOUR. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $125.00 to $95.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Shift4 Payments from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James decreased their target price on Shift4 Payments from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Shift4 Payments from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.38.

Insider Activity at Shift4 Payments

In related news, President David Taylor Lauber sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.70, for a total transaction of $229,250.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 264,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,287,295.20. This trade represents a 0.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Nancy Disman sold 10,000 shares of Shift4 Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.98, for a total transaction of $849,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 177,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,094,317.56. This represents a 5.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,695 shares of company stock valued at $1,097,380. 30.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shift4 Payments

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 48.8% in the first quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 343,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,088,000 after purchasing an additional 112,717 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 16.7% in the first quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 76,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,259,000 after purchasing an additional 10,946 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 2.7% in the first quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 17,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,429,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 3.4% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 13,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,086,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the period. Finally, Bosman Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 79.9% in the first quarter. Bosman Wealth Management LLC now owns 43,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,579,000 after acquiring an additional 19,456 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Shift4 Payments Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $84.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.35. The firm has a market cap of $7.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 2.97.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $368.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $886.09 million. Shift4 Payments had a net margin of 6.89% and a return on equity of 29.00%. Shift4 Payments’s quarterly revenue was up 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Shift4 Payments Company Profile

Shift4 Payments, Inc (NYSE FOUR) provides integrated payment processing and technology solutions in the United States. Its payments platform provides omni-channel card acceptance and processing solutions, including end-to-end payment processing for various payment types; merchant acquiring; proprietary omni-channel gateway; complementary software integrations; integrated and mobile point-of-sale (POS) solutions; security and risk management solutions; and reporting and analytical tools, as well as tokenization, risk management/underwriting, payment device and chargeback management, fraud prevention, and gift card solutions.