Stephens Downgrades Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) to Equal Weight

Key Points

• Stephens downgraded Shift4 Payments from "overweight" to "equal weight" and set a $50 price target, implying about a 3% upside from the current share price.
• Analyst coverage is mixed: MarketBeat shows a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $76.56 (12 Buys, 9 Holds, 1 Sell), while several firms have recently lowered price targets or adjusted ratings.
• Major insider Jared Isaacman purchased 43,827 shares at roughly $45.75, increasing his stake to ~1.41M shares; insiders bought ~385,757 shares over the past three months and now own about 25.15% of the company.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) was downgraded by Stephens from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note issued on Friday. They currently have a $50.00 target price on the stock. Stephens' price target suggests a potential upside of 3.04% from the company's current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on FOUR. Susquehanna cut their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $115.00 to $101.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Shift4 Payments from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $102.00 to $90.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $71.00 target price on Shift4 Payments in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Shift4 Payments currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $76.56.

Shift4 Payments Stock Performance

Shift4 Payments stock opened at $48.53 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.60. Shift4 Payments has a 12-month low of $39.90 and a 12-month high of $108.50.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $610.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Shift4 Payments had a net margin of 2.84% and a return on equity of 39.27%. The firm's revenue was up 50.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. Shift4 Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.500-5.700 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Shift4 Payments will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Shift4 Payments

In other Shift4 Payments news, major shareholder Jared Isaacman purchased 43,827 shares of Shift4 Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $45.75 per share, for a total transaction of $2,005,085.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 1,410,727 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $64,540,760.25. This trade represents a 3.21% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last three months, insiders have bought 385,757 shares of company stock valued at $17,666,153. Company insiders own 25.15% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Shift4 Payments

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FOUR. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 100.0% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 434 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 18.8% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 5,443 shares of the company's stock valued at $539,000 after buying an additional 860 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 29.6% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 5,410 shares of the company's stock valued at $529,000 after buying an additional 1,235 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Shift4 Payments during the second quarter worth approximately $249,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Shift4 Payments by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 5,317 shares of the company's stock worth $527,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by 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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