Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR)

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders purchased 6,182 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 60% compared to the average daily volume of 3,860 call options.

Shift4 Payments Price Performance

Shares of FOUR stock traded down $0.12 on Friday, reaching $51.23. 1,140,915 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,935,720. Shift4 Payments has a 1 year low of $34.56 and a 1 year high of $108.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.55, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.22. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $42.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.76. The company has a market cap of $4.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.41.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.02). Shift4 Payments had a net margin of 2.63% and a return on equity of 33.55%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.07 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 49.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Shift4 Payments has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.500-5.700 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Shift4 Payments will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Jared Isaacman purchased 195,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $41.41 per share, with a total value of $8,095,655.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 1,594,455 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $66,026,381.55. This represents a 13.97% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Shift4 Payments

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in Shift4 Payments during the third quarter worth approximately $77,303,000. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in Shift4 Payments by 16.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 6,338,567 shares of the company’s stock valued at $628,215,000 after buying an additional 890,990 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in shares of Shift4 Payments by 3,048.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 872,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,938,000 after acquiring an additional 844,746 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments in the 4th quarter worth $51,635,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Shift4 Payments by 97.2% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,655,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,246,000 after acquiring an additional 816,155 shares during the period. 98.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FOUR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Shift4 Payments from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Evercore set a $45.00 price target on Shift4 Payments in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Stephens cut Shift4 Payments from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, April 17th. Loop Capital began coverage on Shift4 Payments in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They set a “hold” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Seaport Research Partners lowered Shift4 Payments from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Shift4 Payments presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.29.

About Shift4 Payments

Shift4 Payments is a U.S.-based provider of integrated payment processing and technology solutions, serving merchants across the hospitality, retail, e-commerce, gaming and lodging industries. The company’s platform enables businesses to accept in-store, online and mobile payments through a combination of point-of-sale hardware, payment gateway services and back-office software. By centralizing transaction processing and reporting, Shift4 aims to simplify payments, enhance security and streamline operations for its merchant customers.

The company’s core offerings include encrypted point-of-sale terminals, cloud-based payment gateways, and developer-friendly APIs for online and mobile checkouts.