BMO Capital Markets Boosts Block (NYSE:SQ) Price Target to $93.00

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its target price raised by BMO Capital Markets from $92.00 to $93.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the technology company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Block from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a buy rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Block currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $86.20.

Block Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SQ traded up $0.89 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $58.10. The stock had a trading volume of 4,768,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,947,966. The firm has a market cap of $35.85 billion, a PE ratio of 75.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.52. Block has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.21.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,500 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $175,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 92,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,443,360. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,147 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.57, for a total transaction of $76,355.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 271,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,066,698.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $175,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 92,048 shares in the company, valued at $6,443,360. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,505 shares of company stock worth $1,683,811. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Block

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 0.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,511,250 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,088,122,000 after buying an additional 318,549 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Block by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,096,614 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,107,712,000 after purchasing an additional 582,826 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Block by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 10,377,973 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $802,736,000 after purchasing an additional 75,161 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in shares of Block by 45.7% in the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $650,396,000 after buying an additional 3,163,975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its stake in Block by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 8,982,862 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $694,735,000 after buying an additional 71,735 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.