Short Interest in Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) Expands By 6.6%

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,070,000 shares, an increase of 6.6% from the March 31st total of 7,570,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,500,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on FOUR shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Shift4 Payments from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Shift4 Payments from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods started coverage on Shift4 Payments in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Shift4 Payments from $91.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.95.

Shift4 Payments Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of FOUR stock opened at $58.84 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.07 billion, a PE ratio of 40.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.59. Shift4 Payments has a 1-year low of $42.91 and a 1-year high of $92.30. The business has a 50-day moving average of $70.09 and a 200 day moving average of $67.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.63.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $269.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $278.85 million. Shift4 Payments had a net margin of 3.36% and a return on equity of 27.35%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Shift4 Payments will post 2.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Shift4 Payments news, insider David Taylor Lauber sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.15, for a total transaction of $1,202,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 243,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,546,982. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 32.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. HMS Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. HMS Capital Management LLC now owns 3,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC now owns 5,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $369,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 6,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 8,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $467,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 7,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. 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.