Forsta AP Fonden Lowers Stock Holdings in Shopify Inc. $SHOP

Key Points

• Forsta AP Fonden reduced its Shopify stake by 4.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 13,200 shares and leaving it with 269,100 shares valued at about $43.4 million.
• Institutional ownership remains high, with hedge funds and other institutional investors holding 69.27% of Shopify’s stock, even as some firms trimmed positions and others added to theirs.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on Shopify, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $157.17, despite some firms lowering targets after recent coverage.

Forsta AP Fonden decreased its position in shares of Shopify Inc. (NASDAQ:SHOP - Free Report) TSE: SHOP by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 269,100 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 13,200 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in Shopify were worth $43,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shopify during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,110,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Shopify by 16.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 450,895 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $67,006,000 after buying an additional 63,300 shares in the last quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd lifted its stake in Shopify by 65.5% in the 3rd quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 158,514 shares of the software maker's stock worth $23,557,000 after purchasing an additional 62,743 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Shopify by 37.1% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 81,082 shares of the software maker's stock worth $13,051,000 after purchasing an additional 21,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Triasima Portfolio Management inc. lifted its stake in Shopify by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. now owns 182,338 shares of the software maker's stock worth $29,398,000 after purchasing an additional 18,028 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.27% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Shopify

Here are the key news stories impacting Shopify this week:

• Positive Sentiment: UBS said Shopify’s point-of-sale business could become a much bigger long-term growth driver than the market currently assumes, adding to gross merchandise value and profit growth over the next decade. The note reinforces the idea that Shopify’s in-store commerce and retail tools can expand beyond its core e-commerce platform.
• Positive Sentiment: Shopify also benefited from a broader rebound in software names after strong results from companies like Snowflake and Okta eased fears that AI would disrupt subscription software models. That improving sentiment has helped lift investor appetite for software stocks, including SHOP.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage also highlighted Shopify’s strong B2B momentum, with Q1 B2B gross merchandise value reportedly up 80% year over year, suggesting another avenue for enterprise growth and supporting the bullish case for the stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reddit’s expanded Shopify integration, now generally available for merchants, could indirectly support Shopify’s ecosystem by making it easier for merchants to advertise and sell through Reddit. While this is more directly a positive for Reddit, it underscores Shopify’s role as a commerce platform connected to more marketing channels.
• Neutral Sentiment: Other recent articles pointed to AI-related merchant tools and app integrations, such as EZ Texting, which may improve Shopify’s value proposition over time but are not immediate stock-moving catalysts on their own.

Shopify Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of NASDAQ SHOP opened at $118.71 on Friday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $114.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 2.64. Shopify Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.00 and a 12-month high of $182.19.

Shopify (NASDAQ:SHOP - Get Free Report) TSE: SHOP last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The software maker reported $999.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $998.78. The firm had revenue of $3.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.08 billion. Shopify had a net margin of 10.77% and a return on equity of 12.07%. On average, equities analysts predict that Shopify Inc. will post 1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on SHOP. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Shopify from $163.00 to $156.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $126.00 price target (down from $181.00) on shares of Shopify in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays set a $126.00 price target on shares of Shopify and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $170.00 price target on shares of Shopify in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Shopify in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Shopify presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $157.17.

About Shopify

Shopify is a Canadian commerce technology company that provides a cloud-based platform for businesses to create, manage and scale online and physical retail stores. Its core offering is a software-as-a-service e-commerce platform that enables merchants to build customizable storefronts, manage product catalogs, process orders, and handle inventory. Shopify also supports omnichannel selling through integrated point-of-sale (POS) systems for in-person transactions.

Beyond storefront software, Shopify offers a range of merchant services and tools designed to simplify commerce operations.

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