Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $95.15.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on FOUR. Mizuho dropped their target price on Shift4 Payments from $102.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Shift4 Payments from $115.00 to $101.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Shift4 Payments from $95.00 to $83.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $80.00 to $74.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $112.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday.

Shift4 Payments Stock Up 2.5%

FOUR opened at $67.13 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.78. Shift4 Payments has a 52 week low of $61.23 and a 52 week high of $127.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The stock has a market cap of $5.95 billion, a PE ratio of 31.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.66.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion. Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 40.19% and a net margin of 5.02%.Shift4 Payments’s revenue for the quarter was up 61.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Shift4 Payments will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Shift4 Payments

In related news, Director Nancy Disman sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $347,500.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 130,420 shares in the company, valued at $9,064,190. This trade represents a 3.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider James J. Whalen sold 1,438 shares of Shift4 Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.50, for a total value of $102,817.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 54,736 shares in the company, valued at $3,913,624. This trade represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,438 shares of company stock worth $1,278,317. Company insiders own 25.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Shift4 Payments

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FOUR. Durable Capital Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 12.6% in the second quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 6,665,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $660,612,000 after buying an additional 745,650 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its position in Shift4 Payments by 16.4% during the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 6,338,567 shares of the company’s stock valued at $628,215,000 after buying an additional 890,990 shares during the period. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP grew its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 5,071,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $392,552,000 after acquiring an additional 105,320 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 25.6% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,056,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,139,000 after acquiring an additional 419,132 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 16.6% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,505,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,253,000 after acquiring an additional 214,627 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

About Shift4 Payments

Shift4 Payments is a U.S.-based provider of integrated payment processing and technology solutions, serving merchants across the hospitality, retail, e-commerce, gaming and lodging industries. The company’s platform enables businesses to accept in-store, online and mobile payments through a combination of point-of-sale hardware, payment gateway services and back-office software. By centralizing transaction processing and reporting, Shift4 aims to simplify payments, enhance security and streamline operations for its merchant customers.

The company’s core offerings include encrypted point-of-sale terminals, cloud-based payment gateways, and developer-friendly APIs for online and mobile checkouts.