Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Shares of Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eighteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $84.95.

FOUR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic raised Shift4 Payments from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $53.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Shift4 Payments from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Shift4 Payments in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th.

Shift4 Payments Stock Down 3.2 %

Shift4 Payments stock traded down $1.89 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $57.87. The company had a trading volume of 1,164,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,400,943. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $70.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.93. Shift4 Payments has a 12 month low of $42.91 and a 12 month high of $92.30. The company has a market capitalization of $4.99 billion, a PE ratio of 40.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.57.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.05). Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 27.35% and a net margin of 3.36%. The company had revenue of $269.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $278.85 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Shift4 Payments will post 2.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider David Taylor Lauber sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.15, for a total transaction of $1,202,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 243,880 shares in the company, valued at $19,546,982. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 32.14% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Shift4 Payments

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FOUR. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 34.3% during the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,451,361 shares of the company's stock valued at $228,031,000 after buying an additional 881,216 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,945,060 shares of the company's stock valued at $218,936,000 after buying an additional 601,749 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,083,024 shares of the company's stock worth $154,852,000 after purchasing an additional 57,466 shares during the period. Kodai Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $59,520,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 771,545 shares of the company's stock worth $57,357,000 after purchasing an additional 77,967 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Shift4 Payments Company 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.