Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 300 Shares of Shift4 Payments, Inc. $FOUR

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) by 11.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,417 shares of the company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Shift4 Payments were worth $240,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Durable Capital Partners LP increased its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Durable Capital Partners LP now owns 5,919,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $483,706,000 after purchasing an additional 788,952 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,253,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,420,000 after buying an additional 144,111 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 1st quarter worth approximately $56,863,000. Senator Investment Group LP boosted its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 32.4% in the 1st quarter. Senator Investment Group LP now owns 678,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,427,000 after buying an additional 165,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 64.7% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 580,814 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,458,000 after buying an additional 228,079 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FOUR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Shift4 Payments from $92.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on Shift4 Payments from $126.00 to $120.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Shift4 Payments from $97.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Shift4 Payments in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Jared Isaacman bought 104,705 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $83.61 per share, for a total transaction of $8,754,385.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 939,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,569,571.15. The trade was a 12.54% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Taylor Lauber sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total value of $221,475.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 285,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,300,240.92. This represents a 0.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 25.15% of the company’s stock.

Shift4 Payments Price Performance

Shift4 Payments stock opened at $75.56 on Thursday. Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.09 and a 12 month high of $127.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.53, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.96. The company has a market cap of $6.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.99, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.69.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.10). Shift4 Payments had a net margin of 6.11% and a return on equity of 37.05%. The firm had revenue of $413.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $967.84 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. Shift4 Payments’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

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.