Kennedy Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in Shift4 Payments, Inc. $FOUR

Kennedy Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) by 65.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,797 shares of the company’s stock after selling 126,569 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Shift4 Payments were worth $4,206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 25.9% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 860 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Marex Group plc boosted its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Marex Group plc now owns 3,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $220,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 5.6% in the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $313,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. 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 worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. Finally, Glenmede Investment Management LP boosted its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 5.1% in the third quarter. Glenmede Investment Management LP now owns 4,565 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Jared Isaacman purchased 193,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $40.66 per share, for a total transaction of $7,847,380.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 1,787,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,677,920.30. This represents a 12.10% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FOUR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Benchmark dropped their price target on shares of Shift4 Payments from $100.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Evercore set a $45.00 price target on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Shift4 Payments from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $50.00 price target on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.19.

Shift4 Payments Price Performance

NYSE:FOUR opened at $39.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.55, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.14. Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.56 and a 1 year high of $108.50.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.02). Shift4 Payments had a net margin of 2.63% and a return on equity of 33.55%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.07 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 49.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Shift4 Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.500-5.700 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 4.75 EPS for the current year.

Shift4 Payments 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.