Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Shift4 Payments, Inc. $FOUR

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) by 15.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 130,889 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,245 shares during the period. Shift4 Payments accounts for 0.8% of Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.16% of Shift4 Payments worth $5,726,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 18.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 5,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $539,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its position in Shift4 Payments by 29.6% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 5,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235 shares during the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Shift4 Payments during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $249,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Shift4 Payments by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 5,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $527,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Shift4 Payments

In other news, major shareholder Jared Isaacman purchased 193,000 shares of Shift4 Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $40.66 per share, with a total value of $7,847,380.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 1,787,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,677,920.30. This trade represents a 12.10% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on FOUR. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $73.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 8th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Shift4 Payments in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wolfe Research lowered Shift4 Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Shift4 Payments from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners cut shares of Shift4 Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.29.

Shift4 Payments Stock Performance

Shares of FOUR opened at $51.23 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a PE ratio of 60.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.41. Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a one year low of $34.56 and a one year high of $108.50.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.02). Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 33.55% and a net margin of 2.63%.The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 49.0% on a year-over-year basis. Shift4 Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.500-5.700 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shift4 Payments Company Profile

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.