Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) Stock Price

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) had its price target trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $109.00 to $107.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on FOUR. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $143.00 target price (up previously from $120.00) on shares of Shift4 Payments in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Benchmark downgraded shares of Shift4 Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Shift4 Payments in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on Shift4 Payments from $140.00 to $124.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, B. Riley raised their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.86.

Shift4 Payments Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:FOUR opened at $97.50 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $8.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.76, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.72. Shift4 Payments has a fifty-two week low of $55.87 and a fifty-two week high of $127.50. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.49. The company has a quick ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $405.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1 billion. Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 6.89%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Shift4 Payments will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Shift4 Payments

In related news, insider David Taylor Lauber sold 5,000 shares of Shift4 Payments stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.71, for a total transaction of $568,550.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 210,045 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,884,216.95. The trade was a 2.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider James J. Whalen sold 1,462 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.07, for a total value of $147,764.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,748,585.23. This 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 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 30.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Shift4 Payments

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FOUR. Creative Planning purchased a new stake in Shift4 Payments during the 3rd quarter worth $293,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 10,217.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 160,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,224,000 after purchasing an additional 158,987 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 11,535.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 23,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,024,000 after purchasing an additional 22,840 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $399,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 84.8% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 191,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,003,000 after buying an additional 88,056 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

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.