Ameriprise Financial Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Shift4 Payments, Inc. $FOUR

Key Points

• Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Shift4 Payments by 13.0%, acquiring an additional 144,111 shares and now holds 1,253,401 shares valued at approximately $102.4 million.
• Shift4 Payments recently reported an EPS of $1.10 for the quarter, missing analysts' expectations by $0.10, while its revenue reached $413.4 million, significantly below the forecast of $967.84 million.
• Analyst sentiment is generally positive, with multiple firms increasing their price targets, and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $114.40.

Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR - Free Report) by 13.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,253,401 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 144,111 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 1.41% of Shift4 Payments worth $102,420,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 2,510,014 shares of the company's stock valued at $260,489,000 after buying an additional 367,500 shares during the last quarter. Spyglass Capital Management LLC raised its position in Shift4 Payments by 22.7% in the fourth quarter. Spyglass Capital Management LLC now owns 981,859 shares of the company's stock worth $101,897,000 after acquiring an additional 181,539 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments during the 1st quarter valued at $56,863,000. Senator Investment Group LP raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 32.4% during the 1st quarter. Senator Investment Group LP now owns 678,334 shares of the company's stock valued at $55,427,000 after purchasing an additional 165,973 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 535,507 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,756,000 after purchasing an additional 14,517 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Shift4 Payments Stock Performance

Shares of FOUR traded up $1.22 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $91.53. The stock had a trading volume of 993,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,826,464. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a current ratio of 2.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $97.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.30. Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.09 and a fifty-two week high of $127.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.81.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.10). Shift4 Payments had a net margin of 6.11% and a return on equity of 37.05%. The firm had revenue of $413.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $967.84 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 28.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Nancy Disman sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.33, for a total value of $903,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 167,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,141,295.26. This represents a 5.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Sarah Goldsmith-Grover sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.53, for a total transaction of $94,530.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,474 shares of the company's stock, valued at $706,517.22. This represents a 11.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 14,551 shares of company stock valued at $1,329,822. Corporate insiders own 25.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on FOUR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Shift4 Payments from $113.00 to $107.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Shift4 Payments from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Shift4 Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $114.40.

Shift4 Payments Profile

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.