Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) Shares Down 5.2% – Time to Sell?

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) shares traded down 5.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $49.82 and last traded at $49.7440. 1,140,111 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 55% from the average session volume of 2,511,363 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.50.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Shift4 Payments from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $67.00 target price on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. BTIG Research decreased their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Benchmark lowered their price target on Shift4 Payments from $100.00 to $67.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on Shift4 Payments from $102.00 to $90.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.89.

Shift4 Payments Stock Down 7.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.65. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.27.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.04. Shift4 Payments had a net margin of 2.84% and a return on equity of 39.27%. The firm had revenue of $610.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Shift4 Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.500-5.700 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Shift4 Payments

In related news, major shareholder Jared Isaacman purchased 43,827 shares of Shift4 Payments stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $45.75 per share, for a total transaction of $2,005,085.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,410,727 shares in the company, valued at $64,540,760.25. This represents a 3.21% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders bought a total of 385,757 shares of company stock worth $17,666,153 over the last three months. Insiders own 25.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in Shift4 Payments during the third quarter valued at approximately $77,303,000. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 16.4% in the second quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 6,338,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $628,215,000 after purchasing an additional 890,990 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 3,048.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 872,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,938,000 after purchasing an additional 844,746 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments during the 4th quarter valued at $51,635,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 97.2% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,655,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,246,000 after buying an additional 816,155 shares in the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shift4 Payments Company Profile

Shift4 Payments is a U.S.-based provider of integrated payment processing and technology solutions, serving merchants across the hospitality, retail, e-commerce, gaming and lodging industries. The company’s platform enables businesses to accept in-store, online and mobile payments through a combination of point-of-sale hardware, payment gateway services and back-office software. By centralizing transaction processing and reporting, Shift4 aims to simplify payments, enhance security and streamline operations for its merchant customers.

The company’s core offerings include encrypted point-of-sale terminals, cloud-based payment gateways, and developer-friendly APIs for online and mobile checkouts.