Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) Short Interest Down 8.1% in January

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,070,000 shares, a decrease of 8.1% from the January 15th total of 7,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,800,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Shift4 Payments Stock Performance

FOUR traded up $4.76 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $126.04. 3,582,011 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,281,054. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $97.38. The firm has a market capitalization 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. Shift4 Payments has a 1-year low of $55.87 and a 1-year high of $127.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.98, a quick ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.71.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Shift4 Payments will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jordan Frankel sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.01, for a total value of $495,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 222,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,991,309.12. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider James J. Whalen sold 1,462 shares of the company’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,748,585.23. This trade represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,462 shares of company stock worth $1,211,364 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 30.57% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shift4 Payments

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FOUR. Waldron Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Shift4 Payments in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in Shift4 Payments during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 153.9% in the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on FOUR shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Shift4 Payments from $93.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $118.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Shift4 Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $112.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Shift4 Payments from $90.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Shift4 Payments from $120.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Shift4 Payments currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.24.

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.