American Century Companies Inc. Reduces Position in Shift4 Payments, Inc. $FOUR

American Century Companies Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) by 46.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 433,118 shares of the company’s stock after selling 374,223 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.49% of Shift4 Payments worth $33,523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FOUR. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in Shift4 Payments by 66.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 178,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,802,000 after buying an additional 71,489 shares during the period. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 71.3% during the third quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 584,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,219,000 after acquiring an additional 243,161 shares during the period. Maestria Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 36.6% during the third quarter. Maestria Partners LLC now owns 372,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,826,000 after acquiring an additional 99,723 shares in the last quarter. Jackson Square Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments during the third quarter valued at approximately $5,735,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 56.4% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 92,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,057,000 after purchasing an additional 33,472 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David Taylor Lauber sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.00, for a total transaction of $828,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 273,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,877,572. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Jared Isaacman bought 45,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $43.83 per share, for a total transaction of $2,002,724.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,366,900 shares in the company, valued at $59,911,227. This trade represents a 3.46% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 341,930 shares of company stock valued at $15,661,068. Insiders own 25.15% of the company’s stock.

Shift4 Payments Trading Down 2.1%

Shift4 Payments stock opened at $47.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.66, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market cap of $4.25 billion, a PE ratio of 45.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $59.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.17. Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a one year low of $43.32 and a one year high of $108.50.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 39.27% and a net margin of 2.84%.The company’s revenue was up 50.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. Shift4 Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.500-5.700 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on FOUR shares. Freedom Capital cut Shift4 Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. BTIG Research decreased their target price on Shift4 Payments from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho lowered their target price on Shift4 Payments from $102.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 22nd. DA Davidson cut their price target on Shift4 Payments from $104.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Benchmark decreased their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $100.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.89.

About Shift4 Payments

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.