New York State Teachers Retirement System Makes New Investment in Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR)

New York State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new stake in Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE:FOUR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 45,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,723,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.05% of Shift4 Payments at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of FOUR. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Shift4 Payments by 95.8% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $196,000 after buying an additional 1,083 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning acquired a new stake in shares of Shift4 Payments in the third quarter valued at about $293,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in Shift4 Payments by 245.7% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 161,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,294,000 after acquiring an additional 114,659 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Shift4 Payments during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Shift4 Payments by 10,217.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 160,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,224,000 after acquiring an additional 158,987 shares during the last quarter. 98.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Shift4 Payments

In related news, insider James J. Whalen sold 1,462 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.07, for a total transaction of $147,764.34. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 37,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,748,585.23. This trade represents a 3.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jordan Frankel sold 5,000 shares of Shift4 Payments stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.01, for a total transaction of $495,050.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 222,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,991,309.12. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 11,462 shares of company stock valued at $1,211,364. 30.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FOUR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Shift4 Payments from $90.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $116.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Shift4 Payments from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Benchmark cut shares of Shift4 Payments from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Shift4 Payments in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.19.

Shift4 Payments Stock Performance

Shares of FOUR opened at $98.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.71, a current ratio of 2.98 and a quick ratio of 2.97. The stock has a market cap of $8.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.72. The company has a 50-day moving average of $110.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.43. Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a one year low of $55.87 and a one year high of $127.50.

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.16 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $405.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1 billion. Shift4 Payments had a net margin of 6.89% and a return on equity of 29.38%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Shift4 Payments, Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Shift4 Payments Profile

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.