Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) Stock Price Up 7.8% – Still a Buy?

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR)’s stock price rose 7.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $42.25 and last traded at $41.6760. 207,892 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 2,108,417 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.67.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research cut shares of Shift4 Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Shift4 Payments in a report on Thursday, May 7th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $81.00 to $56.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Shift4 Payments from $73.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.19.

Shift4 Payments Stock Up 11.2%

The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55. The company has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.21, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.79.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Shift4 Payments news, major shareholder Jared Isaacman purchased 195,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $41.41 per share, for a total transaction of $8,095,655.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 1,594,455 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,026,381.55. This represents a 13.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 6,778,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $426,869,000 after acquiring an additional 621,797 shares in the last quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 12.6% in the second quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 6,665,443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,612,000 after purchasing an additional 745,650 shares in the last quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP increased its stake in Shift4 Payments by 2.1% in the third quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 5,071,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $392,552,000 after purchasing an additional 105,320 shares during the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its stake in Shift4 Payments by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 2,643,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,482,000 after purchasing an additional 188,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spyglass Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 3.1% during the first quarter. Spyglass Capital Management LLC now owns 1,751,140 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,577,000 after purchasing an additional 53,220 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.