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

Shares of Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $79.8947.

A number of analysts have weighed in on FOUR shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Benchmark cut their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $100.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Loop Capital set a $80.00 price objective on Shift4 Payments in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Shift4 Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $100.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Shift4 Payments from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Shift4 Payments news, major shareholder Jared Isaacman purchased 45,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $43.83 per share, for a total transaction of $2,002,724.19. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,366,900 shares in the company, valued at $59,911,227. The trade was a 3.46% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Taylor Lauber sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.00, for a total transaction of $828,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 273,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,877,572. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have acquired 341,930 shares of company stock valued at $15,661,068 in the last ninety days. 25.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FOUR. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 410.9% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 281 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 100.0% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 434 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 148.1% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 526 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Shift4 Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Vestcor Inc bought a new stake in Shift4 Payments in the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Shift4 Payments Stock Up 3.2%

FOUR stock opened at $48.99 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $59.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.60. Shift4 Payments has a 12 month low of $43.32 and a 12 month high of $108.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 1.65.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Shift4 Payments had a net margin of 2.84% and a return on equity of 39.27%. The firm’s revenue was up 50.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. Shift4 Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.500-5.700 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Shift4 Payments will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.