Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) Stock Price Down 5.2% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Shift4 Payments (FOUR) fell 5.2% to $41.69 on Tuesday with just 261,228 shares traded, an ~88% drop from its average session volume.
• Analysts are mixed and the consensus rating is Hold with a $72.76 average price target after several recent downgrades and target cuts from firms like Deutsche Bank and Raymond James.
• The company beat EPS expectations ($1.60 vs. $1.56) but reported $610M in revenue (below a cited $1.20B expectation) while showing high leverage (debt-to-equity 4.66); major insider Jared Isaacman bought 43,827 shares, bringing insiders’ ownership to 25.15%.

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) traded down 5.2% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $41.32 and last traded at $41.69. 261,228 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 2,241,667 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.99.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Capital One Financial set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Shift4 Payments from a "strong-buy" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Benchmark reduced their target price on Shift4 Payments from $100.00 to $67.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Shift4 Payments from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Shift4 Payments from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $72.76.

Shift4 Payments Trading Down 7.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $46.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.33.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.04. Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 39.27% and a net margin of 2.84%.The firm had revenue of $610.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. The firm'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. On average, research analysts forecast that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Shift4 Payments

In other news, major shareholder Jared Isaacman purchased 43,827 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $45.75 per share, for a total transaction of $2,005,085.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,410,727 shares of the company's stock, valued at $64,540,760.25. This trade represents a 3.21% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders purchased 385,757 shares of company stock worth $17,666,153 in the last three months. 25.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Shift4 Payments

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FOUR. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 100.0% during the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 434 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 148.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 526 shares of the company's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 3rd quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Summer Road LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shift4 Payments Company 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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