Block (NYSE:SQ) Given New $80.00 Price Target at Needham & Company LLC

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its price target reduced by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $105.00 to $80.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 40.28% from the stock’s previous close.

SQ has been the topic of several other research reports. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Block from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Block from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. William Blair upgraded Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.20.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SQ traded down $3.35 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $57.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,213,418 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,955,391. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64. Block has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52. The company has a market capitalization of $35.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. Block had a return on equity of 3.81% and a net margin of 3.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Block will post 1.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $91,070.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 93,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,651,194.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $483,712.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 282,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,158,456.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 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 sold 24,505 shares of company stock valued at $1,683,811 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Block during the 4th quarter worth about $528,996,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Block by 3,525.7% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $459,072,000 after acquiring an additional 5,771,310 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Block by 70.0% in the fourth quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,606,269 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $510,995,000 after acquiring an additional 2,720,123 shares during the last quarter. Trivest Advisors Ltd acquired a new stake in Block during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $157,021,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Block by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,799,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277,043 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently 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.