Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Reduces Holdings in Shift4 Payments, Inc. $FOUR

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Shift4 Payments were worth $1,883,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. S.A. Mason LLC boosted its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 5,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $533,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. Prasad Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Prasad Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $563,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 4,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 41.7% during the 1st quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 31.4% during the 1st quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Shift4 Payments

In related news, Chairman Jared Isaacman acquired 104,705 shares of Shift4 Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $83.61 per share, with a total value of $8,754,385.05. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 939,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $78,569,571.15. This represents a 12.54% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Taylor Lauber sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.59, for a total value of $221,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 285,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,300,240.92. This trade represents a 0.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 25.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Shift4 Payments Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:FOUR opened at $77.28 on Friday. Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a 52-week low of $68.09 and a 52-week high of $127.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $85.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.99, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a current ratio of 2.53.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.10). Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 37.05% and a net margin of 6.11%.The firm had revenue of $413.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $967.84 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 28.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FOUR. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Shift4 Payments from $113.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $97.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $92.00 to $86.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Shift4 Payments from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Shift4 Payments in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.65.

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.