Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) Short Interest Update

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider James J. Whalen sold 1,462 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,089 shares in the company, valued at $3,748,585.23. This trade represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider David Taylor Lauber sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.71, for a total value of $568,550.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,462 shares of company stock valued at $1,211,364 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 30.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Shift4 Payments

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its position in Shift4 Payments by 50.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 5,883,186 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,250,000 after acquiring an additional 1,980,940 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 9.3% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,834,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,098,000 after buying an additional 242,179 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 0.9% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,455,085 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,921,000 after acquiring an additional 12,804 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 5.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,058,369 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,797,000 after acquiring an additional 53,610 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 41.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 492,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,666,000 after purchasing an additional 145,444 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FOUR. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $93.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $118.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $120.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Shift4 Payments from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $112.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Shift4 Payments from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. 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, Shift4 Payments currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.24.

Shift4 Payments Price Performance

Shares of Shift4 Payments stock traded down $1.14 on Tuesday, reaching $118.08. 352,384 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,233,673. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 2.97 and a current ratio of 2.98. Shift4 Payments has a one year low of $55.87 and a one year high of $123.25. The firm has a market cap of $10.64 billion, a PE ratio of 64.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.72. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $108.19 and its 200-day moving average is $93.29.

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.