Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) Shares Gap Up - Here's What Happened

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $79.66, but opened at $88.00. Shift4 Payments shares last traded at $88.78, with a volume of 728,407 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on FOUR shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. They set a "hold" rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. UBS Group lowered their target price on Shift4 Payments from $138.00 to $125.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Shift4 Payments from $125.00 to $95.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Benchmark upgraded shares of Shift4 Payments from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $112.38.

Shift4 Payments Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $7.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $84.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.29.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $368.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $886.09 million. Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 6.89%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Shift4 Payments

In other Shift4 Payments news, CFO Nancy Disman sold 10,000 shares of Shift4 Payments stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.98, for a total value of $849,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 177,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,094,317.56. The trade was a 5.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President David Taylor Lauber sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.70, for a total transaction of $229,250.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 264,856 shares in the company, valued at $24,287,295.20. This represents a 0.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,695 shares of company stock worth $1,097,380. 30.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Shift4 Payments

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FOUR. Moody National Bank Trust Division boosted its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 86.5% in the 4th quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 15,849 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,645,000 after buying an additional 7,349 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new position in Shift4 Payments in the fourth quarter worth approximately $812,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Shift4 Payments by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 4,629 shares of the company's stock worth $480,000 after acquiring an additional 1,218 shares during the last quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Shift4 Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $328,000. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $358,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.