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

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,000,000 shares, an increase of 6.9% from the December 15th total of 6,550,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,700,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Shift4 Payments news, insider David Taylor Lauber sold 5,000 shares of Shift4 Payments stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $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 is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider James J. Whalen sold 1,462 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.07, for a total transaction of $147,764.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,462 shares of company stock worth $1,211,364. Company insiders own 30.57% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shift4 Payments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. bought a new stake in Shift4 Payments in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Waldron Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Shift4 Payments in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new position in Shift4 Payments during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Toth Financial Advisory Corp bought a new position in Shift4 Payments during the third quarter worth about $32,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on FOUR shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Shift4 Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $112.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Shift4 Payments from $90.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stephens raised their target price on Shift4 Payments from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $93.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Shift4 Payments currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.90.

Shift4 Payments Trading Up 6.5 %

Shares of NYSE FOUR traded up $6.98 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $114.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,192,386 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,098,660. Shift4 Payments has a one year low of $55.87 and a one year high of $116.84. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.71, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.97. The stock has a market cap of $10.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.71.

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.