Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Trims Stock Position in Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its position in Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) by 14.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,391 shares of the company’s stock after selling 576 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Shift4 Payments were worth $352,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in Shift4 Payments by 153.9% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new position in Shift4 Payments in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. bought a new position in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. 98.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Shift4 Payments news, CFO Nancy Disman sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.98, for a total value of $849,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 177,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,094,317.56. This represents a 5.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President David Taylor Lauber sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.70, for a total transaction of $229,250.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 264,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,287,295.20. This represents a 0.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,695 shares of company stock worth $1,097,380. Company insiders own 30.57% of the company’s stock.

Shift4 Payments Stock Performance

NYSE:FOUR opened at $86.64 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.01. The stock has a market cap of $7.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.76. Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.87 and a twelve month high of $127.50.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.06. Shift4 Payments had a net margin of 6.89% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The firm had revenue of $405.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on FOUR shares. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $143.00 target price (up previously from $120.00) on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Shift4 Payments in a report on Monday, February 3rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Shift4 Payments from $142.00 to $135.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of Shift4 Payments from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Shift4 Payments from $135.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.30.

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.