Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) Upgraded to "Buy (B-)" at Weiss Ratings

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Weiss Ratings from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Mizuho decreased their target price on Shift4 Payments from $107.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $104.00 price target on shares of Shift4 Payments in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Shift4 Payments from $113.00 to $107.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Shift4 Payments from $92.00 to $86.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Shift4 Payments in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $113.65.

Shift4 Payments Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE FOUR opened at $79.49 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.53, a current ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.28. The firm has a market cap of $7.03 billion, a PE ratio of 29.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.69. Shift4 Payments has a twelve month low of $68.09 and a twelve month high of $127.50.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Shift4 Payments news, Chairman Jared Isaacman bought 104,705 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $83.61 per share, for a total transaction of $8,754,385.05. Following the purchase, the chairman directly owned 939,715 shares in the company, valued at $78,569,571.15. This represents a 12.54% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider James J. Whalen sold 794 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.89, for a total value of $71,372.66. Following the transaction, the insider owned 56,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,062,964.36. This trade represents a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 25.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Shift4 Payments

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FOUR. SRH Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Shift4 Payments during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new stake in Shift4 Payments during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Shift4 Payments by 410.9% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 281 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in Shift4 Payments during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in Shift4 Payments by 41.7% during the 1st quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 425 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.