Shift4 Payments’ (FOUR) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Benchmark

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Benchmark in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $99.00 price objective on the stock. Benchmark’s price objective points to a potential upside of 35.08% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Shift4 Payments from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $53.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Shift4 Payments from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Shift4 Payments from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $70.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $94.00 price target on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Shift4 Payments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.22.

Shift4 Payments Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE FOUR traded up $0.19 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $73.29. 32,225 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,359,999. The company has a market capitalization of $6.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.63. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $69.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. Shift4 Payments has a twelve month low of $42.91 and a twelve month high of $92.30.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $263.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $268.55 million. Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 25.21% and a net margin of 3.38%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Shift4 Payments will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jared Isaacman acquired 85,916 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $67.09 per share, with a total value of $5,764,104.44. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 582,827 shares in the company, valued at $39,101,863.43. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Shift4 Payments news, CEO Jared Isaacman bought 85,916 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $67.09 per share, for a total transaction of $5,764,104.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 582,827 shares in the company, valued at $39,101,863.43. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Nancy Disman sold 10,000 shares of Shift4 Payments stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.34, for a total value of $723,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 274,954 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,890,172.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 30.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shift4 Payments

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FOUR. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 34.3% during the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,451,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $228,031,000 after buying an additional 881,216 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,945,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,936,000 after purchasing an additional 601,749 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Shift4 Payments by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,083,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,852,000 after purchasing an additional 57,466 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Shift4 Payments by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,434,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,803,000 after purchasing an additional 255,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its stake in Shift4 Payments by 72.8% during the 1st quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,333,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,088,000 after purchasing an additional 561,707 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.