Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday after Benchmark upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. Approximately 3,187,914 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 93% from the previous session’s volume of 1,649,556 shares.The stock last traded at $81.49 and had previously closed at $81.80.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on FOUR. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Shift4 Payments from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Shift4 Payments in a report on Monday, February 3rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $120.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $138.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.38.

Insider Activity at Shift4 Payments

In other Shift4 Payments news, CFO Nancy Disman sold 10,000 shares of Shift4 Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.98, for a total value of $849,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 177,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,094,317.56. The trade was a 5.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President David Taylor Lauber sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.70, for a total value of $229,250.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 264,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,287,295.20. This represents a 0.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 12,695 shares of company stock valued at $1,097,380. 30.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shift4 Payments

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its position in Shift4 Payments by 153.9% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. purchased a new position in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Elequin Capital LP increased its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 62.3% during the 4th quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Shift4 Payments Stock Up 0.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12, a quick ratio of 2.97 and a current ratio of 1.38. The company has a fifty day moving average of $84.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $98.27. The company has a market cap of $7.32 billion, a PE ratio of 26.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.80.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $368.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $886.09 million. Shift4 Payments had a net margin of 6.89% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The firm’s revenue was up 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shift4 Payments Company Profile

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.