Bank of America Initiates Coverage on Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR)

Key Points

• Bank of America initiated coverage of Shift4 Payments with a “neutral” rating and a $42 price target, implying approximately 7.65% upside from the stock’s quoted price.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: 11 analysts rate the stock a Buy, 10 a Hold and 2 a Sell, resulting in a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $56.68.
• Shift4 reported quarterly EPS of $1.32, exceeding estimates of $1.26, while revenue rose 50.9% year over year to $1.29 billion. Institutional investors own approximately 98.87% of the company.

Stock analysts at Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday. The firm set a "neutral" rating and a $42.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America's target price suggests a potential upside of 7.65% from the stock's current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on FOUR. B. Riley Financial reduced their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $96.00 to $94.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on Shift4 Payments from $51.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Shift4 Payments from $78.00 to $63.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered Shift4 Payments from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, BTIG Research reduced their price target on Shift4 Payments from $60.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Shift4 Payments presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $56.68.

Shift4 Payments Stock Performance

NYSE:FOUR traded up $1.02 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $39.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 95,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,991,160. Shift4 Payments has a fifty-two week low of $34.56 and a fifty-two week high of $77.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.59, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.39. The firm's 50 day moving average is $42.06 and its 200-day moving average is $44.22.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $615.65 million. Shift4 Payments had a net margin of 2.20% and a return on equity of 28.40%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 50.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. Shift4 Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.150-5.350 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Shift4 Payments will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FOUR. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 3.6% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 15,697 shares of the company's stock worth $568,000 after buying an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments in the second quarter valued at about $215,000. Nykredit A S purchased a new position in shares of Shift4 Payments in the second quarter worth about $132,000. Readystate Asset Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 530.2% in the second quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP now owns 86,082 shares of the company's stock worth $4,187,000 after buying an additional 72,422 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaGrep UK Ltd acquired a new position in Shift4 Payments during the second quarter worth about $548,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

About Shift4 Payments

Shift4 Payments, Inc provides integrated payment processing and commerce technology for businesses worldwide. The company enables merchants to accept payments through in-person, online and mobile channels, offering services that can include payment gateways, acquiring, transaction processing, fraud prevention and reporting.

Shift4's platform is designed to combine payments with business-management tools and point-of-sale systems. Its solutions support industries such as restaurants, hospitality, retail, sports and entertainment, gaming, e-commerce and other organizations that require unified payment and commerce capabilities.

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