Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,230,000 shares, an increase of 24.7% from the February 28th total of 6,600,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,750,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.7 days. Approximately 13.2% of the company's shares are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on FOUR. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $143.00 price target (up previously from $120.00) on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Shift4 Payments in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. They issued a "hold" rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Shift4 Payments from $117.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Shift4 Payments from $142.00 to $135.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.95.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Shift4 Payments

In related news, President David Taylor Lauber sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.70, for a total transaction of $229,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 264,856 shares in the company, 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 through this link. Also, CFO Nancy Disman sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.98, for a total transaction of $849,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 177,622 shares in the company, valued at $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 a total of 12,695 shares of company stock worth $1,097,380 over the last three months. Company insiders own 30.57% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Shift4 Payments

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moody National Bank Trust Division increased its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 86.5% during the 4th quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 15,849 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,645,000 after purchasing an additional 7,349 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new position in Shift4 Payments in the fourth quarter worth approximately $812,000. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in Shift4 Payments by 14.3% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 56,894 shares of the company's stock worth $5,041,000 after acquiring an additional 7,117 shares during the period. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments during the 4th quarter valued at $328,000. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 4th quarter worth $358,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company's stock.

Shift4 Payments Stock Down 8.4 %

FOUR traded down $6.63 during trading on Friday, hitting $72.66. 4,269,212 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,578,251. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.67, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.80. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $99.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.01. Shift4 Payments has a 12-month low of $55.87 and a 12-month high of $127.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 2.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR - Get Free Report) 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 company had revenue of $405.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1 billion. Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 6.89%. Analysts predict that Shift4 Payments will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.