Evercore ISI Initiates Coverage on Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR)

Equities research analysts at Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm set an “in-line” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 9.16% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on FOUR. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $154.00 price objective on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Shift4 Payments from $125.00 to $95.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $109.00 to $107.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Raymond James reduced their target price on Shift4 Payments from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Shift4 Payments from $142.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Shift4 Payments has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.38.

Shift4 Payments Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of FOUR opened at $73.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.87, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.80. Shift4 Payments has a 52 week low of $55.87 and a 52 week high of $127.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $97.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.76. The company has a quick ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $405.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 6.89%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Shift4 Payments will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Nancy Disman sold 10,000 shares of Shift4 Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.98, for a total transaction of $849,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 177,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,094,317.56. The trade was a 5.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,695 shares of company stock valued at $1,097,380 in the last three months. 30.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shift4 Payments

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FOUR. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Shift4 Payments during the third quarter worth about $448,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 204.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 26,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,326,000 after purchasing an additional 17,642 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in Shift4 Payments by 14.3% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 56,894 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,041,000 after purchasing an additional 7,117 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Shift4 Payments during the third quarter worth $631,000. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,302,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Shift4 Payments

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.