Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. Boosts Holdings in Shift4 Payments, Inc. $FOUR

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) by 129.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 286,691 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 161,691 shares during the period. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. owned 0.32% of Shift4 Payments worth $18,053,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FOUR. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 434 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 18.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 5,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $539,000 after purchasing an additional 860 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 29.6% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 5,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $529,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 2nd quarter worth about $249,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 5,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shift4 Payments Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of Shift4 Payments stock opened at $40.81 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.32 billion, a PE ratio of 48.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.44. Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.61 and a 52-week high of $108.50. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.95.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 33.55% and a net margin of 2.63%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 49.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.07 earnings per share. Shift4 Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.500-5.700 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 4.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on FOUR. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Shift4 Payments from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Stephens cut shares of Shift4 Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Shift4 Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $67.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Evercore set a $50.00 price target on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Freedom Capital cut shares of Shift4 Payments from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Shift4 Payments has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.62.

Insider Transactions at Shift4 Payments

In other news, major shareholder Jared Isaacman bought 159,244 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $44.15 per share, with a total value of $7,030,622.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 1,321,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,331,289.05. This represents a 13.70% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have bought 385,757 shares of company stock valued at $17,666,153 over the last three months. 25.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.