Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) Hits New 52-Week High on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $125.52 and last traded at $122.98, with a volume of 312349 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $121.28.

The company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.06. Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 23.86% and a net margin of 4.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Shift4 Payments from $118.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Shift4 Payments in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. B. Riley upped their target price on Shift4 Payments from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Shift4 Payments from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Shift4 Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $112.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider David Taylor Lauber sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.71, for a total transaction of $568,550.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 210,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,884,216.95. This represents a 2.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider James J. Whalen sold 1,462 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.07, for a total value of $147,764.34. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,089 shares in the company, valued at $3,748,585.23. The trade was a 3.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,462 shares of company stock worth $1,211,364 over the last three months. 30.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shift4 Payments

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FOUR. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 50.8% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 5,883,186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $521,250,000 after acquiring an additional 1,980,940 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Shift4 Payments by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,539,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $678,668,000 after buying an additional 562,774 shares during the period. Cat Rock Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments during the fourth quarter worth about $39,222,000. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Darlington Partners Capital Management LP now owns 2,510,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,489,000 after purchasing an additional 367,500 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,198,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,689,000 after purchasing an additional 350,703 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Shift4 Payments Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $11.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.71, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $110.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.93.

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.