Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Receives $88.79 Average PT from Analysts

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-one ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, twenty-four have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $88.79.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SQ shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total transaction of $30,940.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,715,608.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Block news, Director Roelof Botha acquired 434,405 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total value of $30,940.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,715,608.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 25,214 shares of company stock worth $1,637,932. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Block

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Syon Capital LLC bought a new position in Block during the fourth quarter worth about $285,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter valued at $312,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Block in the 4th quarter valued at about $191,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Block by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,799,505,000 after buying an additional 1,277,043 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Price Performance

SQ opened at $74.66 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 2.49. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.21. Block has a one year low of $38.85 and a one year high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.27 billion. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Block will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Block

Square, Inc provides payment and point-of-sale solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's commerce ecosystem includes point-of-sale software and hardware that enables sellers to turn mobile and computing devices into payment and point-of-sale solutions. It offers hardware products, including Magstripe reader, which enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Contactless and chip reader that accepts EMV® chip cards and Near Field Communication payments; Chip card reader, which accepts EMV® chip cards and enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Square Stand, which enables an iPad to be used as a payment terminal or full point of sale solution; and Square Register that combines its hardware, point-of-sale software, and payments technology, as well as managed payments solutions.