Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) Downgraded by Zacks Investment Research to “Strong Sell”

Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR – Get Rating) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a report released on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

According to Zacks, “Shift4 Payments Inc. is a provider of integrated payment processing and technology solutions. Shift4 Payments Inc. is based in Allentown, United States. “

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on FOUR. Citigroup initiated coverage on Shift4 Payments in a research report on Thursday, April 7th. They set a buy rating and a $81.00 price objective for the company. Moffett Nathanson began coverage on Shift4 Payments in a research note on Tuesday, April 5th. They issued a neutral rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Susquehanna Bancshares began coverage on Shift4 Payments in a research note on Monday, April 4th. They issued a positive rating and a $97.00 price objective for the company. Susquehanna began coverage on Shift4 Payments in a research note on Monday, April 4th. They issued a positive rating and a $97.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Shift4 Payments from $110.00 to $86.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $75.00.

NYSE:FOUR opened at $53.34 on Tuesday. Shift4 Payments has a 52 week low of $38.88 and a 52 week high of $103.37. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -57.98 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.35, a current ratio of 7.91 and a quick ratio of 7.89.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 1st. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $399.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $381.84 million. Shift4 Payments had a negative return on equity of 1.44% and a negative net margin of 3.52%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 89.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.29) earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Shift4 Payments will post 0.56 EPS for the current year.

In related news, CEO Jared Isaacman bought 35,958 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $48.38 per share, with a total value of $1,739,648.04. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 38.03% of the company’s stock.

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FOUR. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 150.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Shift4 Payments during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 142.9% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 425 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new position in shares of Shift4 Payments during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Icapital Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Shift4 Payments during the 1st quarter worth about $66,000. 72.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shift4 Payments Company Profile (Get Rating)

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.

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