Wedbush Upgrades Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) to Hold

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) was upgraded by analysts at Wedbush to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also commented on FOUR. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Shift4 Payments in a report on Friday, May 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $70.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $93.00 price target on shares of Shift4 Payments in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $100.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $75.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.33.

Shift4 Payments Stock Up 6.6 %

Shares of NYSE:FOUR opened at $68.29 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $64.92 and its 200-day moving average is $69.67. Shift4 Payments has a 1 year low of $42.91 and a 1 year high of $92.30. The company has a market capitalization of $5.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.70.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $269.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $278.85 million. Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 25.21% and a net margin of 3.38%. Equities research analysts predict that Shift4 Payments will post 3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Shift4 Payments

In related news, CEO Jared Isaacman bought 85,916 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was bought at an average price of $67.09 per share, with a total value of $5,764,104.44. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 582,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,101,863.43. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Jared Isaacman acquired 85,916 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $67.09 per share, for a total transaction of $5,764,104.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 582,827 shares in the company, valued at $39,101,863.43. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Nancy Disman sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.34, for a total transaction of $723,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 274,954 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,890,172.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 30.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FOUR. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Shift4 Payments in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,203,000. Washington Harbour Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,342,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,434,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,803,000 after acquiring an additional 255,741 shares during the period. BOKF NA grew its stake in Shift4 Payments by 84.6% during the first quarter. BOKF NA now owns 52,077 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,377,000 after buying an additional 23,866 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 1st quarter valued at $179,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

About Shift4 Payments

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.