Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-three research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have issued a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $71.3810.

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Shift4 Payments from $81.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Truist Financial set a $71.00 price objective on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Stephens cut shares of Shift4 Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Freedom Capital cut shares of Shift4 Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th.

Shift4 Payments Stock Performance

Shares of Shift4 Payments stock opened at $40.96 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55. Shift4 Payments has a twelve month low of $39.61 and a twelve month high of $108.50. The stock has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.44. The company’s fifty day moving average is $44.67 and its 200 day moving average is $56.79.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.02). Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 33.55% and a net margin of 2.63%.The business had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.07 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Shift4 Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.500-5.700 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Shift4 Payments will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Shift4 Payments

In other news, major shareholder Jared Isaacman bought 195,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $41.41 per share, for a total transaction of $8,095,655.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 1,594,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,026,381.55. This represents a 13.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have acquired a total of 774,257 shares of company stock valued at $33,609,188 in the last quarter. 25.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shift4 Payments

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 100.0% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 148.1% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 526 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Shift4 Payments in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Vestcor Inc acquired a new position in Shift4 Payments in the third quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Summer Road LLC acquired a new position in Shift4 Payments in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.