Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) Stock Rating Raised to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Zacks reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets set a $46.00 price target on shares of Shift4 Payments in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $59.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Shift4 Payments from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $48.00 price target on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Friday. Eleven equities 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, Shift4 Payments has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.86.

Shift4 Payments Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:FOUR opened at $43.88 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $40.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. Shift4 Payments has a 1-year low of $34.56 and a 1-year high of $75.35.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $652.39 million. Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 28.40% and a net margin of 2.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.47 EPS. Shift4 Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.050-5.150 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Shift4 Payments will post 4.11 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shift4 Payments

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Readystate Asset Management LP grew its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 530.2% in the 2nd quarter. Readystate Asset Management LP now owns 86,082 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,187,000 after buying an additional 72,422 shares during the last quarter. Spyglass Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Shift4 Payments by 4.7% during the second quarter. Spyglass Capital Management LLC now owns 1,833,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,196,000 after buying an additional 82,663 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 19,626.6% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 30,379 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,328,000 after buying an additional 30,225 shares in the last quarter. AlphaGrep UK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments in the second quarter valued at approximately $548,000. Finally, Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 55.5% during the first quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 445,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,490,000 after purchasing an additional 159,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Shift4 Payments

Here are the key news stories impacting Shift4 Payments this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Shift4 reported third-quarter adjusted EPS of $1.49, above the roughly $1.36 consensus, while revenue grew 10% year over year. The company also raised its 2026 EPS outlook to $5.05–$5.15, above the cited $4.98 consensus. Earnings report
• Positive Sentiment: The company authorized a $1 billion share buyback, which could support per-share results and signal confidence in the business. Buyback announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: Shift4 outlined mid- to high-single-digit organic growth for 2027 and a fourth-quarter gross revenue less network fees outlook of $625 million–$640 million. Investors will weigh that growth outlook against the company’s longer-term expectations. Growth outlook
• Negative Sentiment: The earnings beat did not prevent a sharp selloff: reports said third-quarter sales missed expectations, raising concern about growth and overshadowing stronger EPS and guidance. Sales and stock reaction
• Negative Sentiment: Several firms cut their price targets on FOUR, including RBC ($67 to $49), Wells Fargo ($59 to $46), Susquehanna ($63 to $56), and B. Riley ($94 to $77). Their ratings remained positive or bullish, but the broad reductions suggest more cautious assumptions about upside. RBC rating

Shift4 Payments Company Profile

Shift4 Payments, Inc (NYSE: FOUR) is a payment technology company that provides integrated commerce solutions for businesses and organizations. Its platform supports payment acceptance across in-person, online and mobile channels, combining payment processing with point-of-sale, commerce management and reporting tools.

The company serves merchants and enterprises in industries including restaurants, hospitality, hotels, sports and entertainment venues, gaming, retail and e-commerce. Its offerings include payment gateways, point-of-sale systems, mobile and contactless payment capabilities, fraud prevention, chargeback management and business analytics.