Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) Upgraded at Benchmark

Benchmark upgraded shares of Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR - Free Report) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

FOUR has been the topic of several other reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Shift4 Payments from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Shift4 Payments from $154.00 to $127.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Shift4 Payments from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Shift4 Payments in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $140.00 to $124.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.38.

Shift4 Payments Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:FOUR traded up $0.27 on Wednesday, hitting $82.91. 484,764 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,686,797. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 2.97 and a current ratio of 1.38. Shift4 Payments has a 52 week low of $56.10 and a 52 week high of $127.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.80. The company's 50-day moving average price is $83.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.22.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.31. Shift4 Payments had a net margin of 6.89% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The firm had revenue of $368.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $886.09 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.54 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Shift4 Payments will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Shift4 Payments

In other Shift4 Payments news, President David Taylor Lauber sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Nancy Disman sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.98, for a total value of $849,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 177,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,094,317.56. The trade was a 5.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,695 shares of company stock valued at $1,097,380. 30.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shift4 Payments

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Shift4 Payments by 66.1% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 8,057 shares of the company's stock valued at $714,000 after purchasing an additional 3,206 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 548.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 551 shares of the company's stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Shift4 Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $259,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in Shift4 Payments during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Shift4 Payments by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 56,454 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,889,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.