Clearbridge Investments LLC Has $169.80 Million Stake in Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR)

Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,314,928 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 235,355 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Shift4 Payments were worth $169,800,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. J.Safra Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 79.0% in the first quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp now owns 786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Shift4 Payments in the 2nd quarter valued at about $60,000. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 27.1% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC acquired a new position in shares of Shift4 Payments during the fourth quarter worth approximately $112,000. Finally, Natixis Investment Managers International bought a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $116,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.87% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on FOUR. William Blair initiated coverage on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Shift4 Payments from $75.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $97.00 target price on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Shift4 Payments from $96.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jordan Frankel sold 12,500 shares of Shift4 Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.57, for a total value of $1,032,125.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 228,021 shares in the company, valued at $18,827,693.97. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Nancy Disman sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.30, for a total transaction of $1,626,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 182,959 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,874,566.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jordan Frankel sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.57, for a total value of $1,032,125.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 228,021 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,827,693.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 30.57% of the company’s stock.

Shift4 Payments Stock Down 0.2 %

Shift4 Payments stock opened at $88.39 on Wednesday. Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a twelve month low of $42.91 and a twelve month high of $92.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The company has a 50 day moving average of $77.77 and a 200-day moving average of $71.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.74 billion, a PE ratio of 59.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.64.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $320.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $314.10 million. Shift4 Payments had a return on equity of 24.19% and a net margin of 3.64%. The company’s revenue was up 40.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.