— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Shift4 has been soaring since founder Jared Isaacman’s recent space flight.
The Lehigh County-based payment-processing company hit a 52-week high of $96.45 today before the shares (NYSE: FOUR) closed at $96.40.
The company hasn’t put out much news recently, but Wall Street analysts have been giving it good reviews.
Isaacman is founder and chief executive of the company, which now has a market capitalization of $8.45 billion. He recently went on a spacewalk on his second venture beyond the pull of gravity.
Back here on Earth, Shift4’s headquarters is in Upper Saucon Township.
Air Products shares (NYSE: APD) closed at $316.66, about $7 short of its high for the last 52 weeks. At least two activist investors have reportedly taken stakes in the Upper Macungie Township-based maker of industrial gases.
These activists are not the kind who promote social justice. Activist investors buy into companies and then seek changes in strategy, dividend policy, management or other facets to increase the value of their stakes.
Chief Executive Seifi Ghasemi, 80, has been pushing the company to lead a global transition to the use of hydrogen as a clean replacement for fossil fuels.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 