M&T Bank Corp Boosts Stock Position in Shift4 Payments, Inc. $FOUR

Key Points

• M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in Shift4 Payments by 2,674.9% in Q4, buying 131,685 shares to hold 136,608 shares (≈0.15% of the company) valued at about $8.6 million.
• Multiple large institutions — including Durable Capital and Wasatch Advisors — also increased positions, leaving institutional ownership at about 98.87%, with Durable and Wasatch each holding roughly 6.3–6.7 million shares worth over $600 million each.
• Analyst sentiment has cooled to an average "Hold" with a consensus target of $72.76 after several price-target cuts and downgrades; the stock trades near $45.47 (1‑year range $39.90–$108.50) while insiders, led by Jared Isaacman, have been net buyers and now own 25.15% of shares.

M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR - Free Report) by 2,674.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 136,608 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 131,685 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp owned 0.15% of Shift4 Payments worth $8,602,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Durable Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 12.6% in the 2nd quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 6,665,443 shares of the company's stock worth $660,612,000 after purchasing an additional 745,650 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 16.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 6,338,567 shares of the company's stock worth $628,215,000 after purchasing an additional 890,990 shares in the last quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 5,071,725 shares of the company's stock worth $392,552,000 after purchasing an additional 105,320 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,056,056 shares of the company's stock worth $159,139,000 after purchasing an additional 419,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 16.6% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,505,933 shares of the company's stock worth $149,253,000 after purchasing an additional 214,627 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FOUR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Susquehanna cut their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $115.00 to $101.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Shift4 Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $65.00 in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Capital One Financial set a $50.00 price objective on Shift4 Payments in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners cut Shift4 Payments from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.76.

Shift4 Payments Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE FOUR opened at $45.47 on Friday. Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.90 and a 1-year high of $108.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $47.66 and a 200-day moving average of $60.51. The firm has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a PE ratio of 43.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.60.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.04. Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 39.27% and a net margin of 2.84%.The company had revenue of $610.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. Shift4 Payments's revenue for the quarter was up 50.6% on a year-over-year basis. Shift4 Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.500-5.700 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Shift4 Payments

In related news, major shareholder Jared Isaacman bought 43,827 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $45.75 per share, with a total value of $2,005,085.25. Following the purchase, the insider owned 1,410,727 shares in the company, valued at approximately $64,540,760.25. The trade was a 3.21% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders bought 385,757 shares of company stock valued at $17,666,153. Insiders own 25.15% of the company's stock.

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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