Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Short Interest Down 16.5% in July

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,490,000 shares, a decline of 16.5% from the June 30th total of 12,560,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,520,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.64.

Block Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of SQ traded down $1.40 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $60.18. The stock had a trading volume of 11,388,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,080,625. The company has a market capitalization of $37.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.52. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Block has a 12 month low of $38.85 and a 12 month high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.32. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.04%. The firm had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.75 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Block will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 5,155 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $367,345.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 599,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,695,429. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 5,155 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $367,345.30. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 599,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,695,429. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $91,070.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 93,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,651,194.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 138,173 shares of company stock worth $9,363,222 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Block

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bares Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Block by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,487,251 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $347,089,000 after buying an additional 87,826 shares during the last quarter. Trivest Advisors Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 4th quarter worth $157,021,000. IFG Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the fourth quarter valued at about $213,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Block by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,799,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, &PARTNERS boosted its holdings in Block by 8.3% during the first quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 8,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $731,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.