Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) Short Interest Update

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,070,000 shares, a growth of 6.6% from the March 31st total of 7,570,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,500,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.4 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Shift4 Payments

In other Shift4 Payments news, insider David Taylor Lauber sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.15, for a total value of $1,202,250.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 243,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,546,982. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 32.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FOUR. Lewis Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC now owns 5,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $369,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the period. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 65.8% during the 1st quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC now owns 48,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,190,000 after acquiring an additional 19,113 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 15.5% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 71,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,950,000 after acquiring an additional 9,646 shares during the period. Peregrine Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 52.4% during the 1st quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 123,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,179,000 after acquiring an additional 42,551 shares during the period. Finally, HMS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. HMS Capital Management LLC now owns 3,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FOUR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Shift4 Payments from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Shift4 Payments from $91.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $94.00 price target on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Shift4 Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.95.

Shift4 Payments Price Performance

NYSE:FOUR opened at $57.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.02. The company’s 50-day moving average is $70.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.86. Shift4 Payments has a 12-month low of $42.91 and a 12-month high of $92.30.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $269.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $278.85 million. Shift4 Payments had a net margin of 3.36% and a return on equity of 27.35%. Research analysts expect that Shift4 Payments will post 2.84 EPS for the current year.

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.