VELA Investment Management LLC Purchases Shares of 16,905 Shift4 Payments, Inc. $FOUR

Key Points

• VELA Investment Management LLC purchased 16,905 shares of Shift4 Payments, Inc., valued at approximately $1,675,000, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.
• Shift4 Payments Chairman Jared Isaacman increased his stake by acquiring 104,705 shares, while CEO David Taylor Lauber sold 2,500 shares, reflecting mixed insider trading activities.
• Analysts have issued new price targets for Shift4 Payments, with the average target set at $112.65 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy." Several firms, including Mizuho and UBS, have adjusted their price objectives recently.

VELA Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 16,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,675,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Durable Capital Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 5,919,793 shares of the company's stock valued at $483,706,000 after purchasing an additional 788,952 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 13.0% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,253,401 shares of the company's stock worth $102,420,000 after purchasing an additional 144,111 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd acquired a new position in Shift4 Payments during the first quarter worth $56,863,000. Senator Investment Group LP boosted its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 32.4% during the first quarter. Senator Investment Group LP now owns 678,334 shares of the company's stock worth $55,427,000 after purchasing an additional 165,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 64.7% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 580,814 shares of the company's stock worth $47,458,000 after purchasing an additional 228,079 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Jared Isaacman acquired 104,705 shares of Shift4 Payments stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $83.61 per share, for a total transaction of $8,754,385.05. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman directly owned 939,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,569,571.15. The trade was a 12.54% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Taylor Lauber sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total value of $221,475.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 285,588 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,300,240.92. This represents a 0.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 25.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FOUR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $107.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Shift4 Payments in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $125.00 to $115.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $126.00 to $120.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.65.

Shift4 Payments Trading Down 2.2%

Shift4 Payments stock opened at $73.86 on Friday. Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.09 and a 52 week high of $127.50. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $6.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.36, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.69. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.91.

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

About Shift4 Payments

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.

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