Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $857,000 in Shift4 Payments, Inc. $FOUR

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System initiated a new position in Shift4 Payments, buying 19,600 shares valued at about $857,000 in the first quarter.
• Insider buying was notable as major shareholder Jared Isaacman purchased 193,000 shares for about $7.85 million, increasing his stake by 12.1%.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: the stock has a Hold consensus rating with a $68.29 average target price, while the company recently reported earnings that beat revenue expectations but missed EPS estimates.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 19,600 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $857,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in Shift4 Payments by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 6,778,925 shares of the company's stock worth $426,869,000 after purchasing an additional 621,797 shares in the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 12.6% in the second quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 6,665,443 shares of the company's stock worth $660,612,000 after buying an additional 745,650 shares during the period. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 2.1% in the third quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 5,071,725 shares of the company's stock worth $392,552,000 after acquiring an additional 105,320 shares in the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 2,643,829 shares of the company's stock worth $166,482,000 after acquiring an additional 188,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spyglass Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. Spyglass Capital Management LLC now owns 1,697,920 shares of the company's stock worth $106,918,000 after acquiring an additional 455,707 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Jared Isaacman acquired 193,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $40.66 per share, for a total transaction of $7,847,380.00. Following the purchase, the insider owned 1,787,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,677,920.30. This trade represents a 12.10% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.54% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on FOUR. Evercore set a $45.00 price target on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Zacks Research raised shares of Shift4 Payments from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Shift4 Payments in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Shift4 Payments from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Shift4 Payments in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Shift4 Payments has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $68.29.

Shift4 Payments Stock Down 0.2%

FOUR opened at $51.23 on Monday. Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.56 and a 1-year high of $108.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50 day moving average of $42.83 and a 200-day moving average of $50.66.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 33.55% and a net margin of 2.63%.Shift4 Payments's revenue was up 49.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.07 EPS. Shift4 Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.500-5.700 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Shift4 Payments 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.

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