Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Trims Block (NYSE:SQ) Target Price to $74.00

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its target price cut by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $82.00 to $74.00 in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on SQ. Benchmark reissued a buy rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Evercore ISI restated an in-line rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Block from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Wolfe Research upped their target price on Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an underweight rating and issued a $60.00 price target (down from $62.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Block presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $87.00.

Block Price Performance

Block stock opened at $64.34 on Monday. Block has a 12 month low of $38.85 and a 12 month high of $87.52. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $66.39 and its 200-day moving average is $70.97. 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 company has a market capitalization of $39.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.56, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 2.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.32. Block had a return on equity of 2.04% and a net margin of 2.18%. The company had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.75 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Block will post 1.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,147 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.57, for a total transaction of $76,355.79. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 271,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,066,698.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,147 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.57, for a total transaction of $76,355.79. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 271,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,066,698.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $121,594.93. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 590,761 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,027,285.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 135,673 shares of company stock worth $9,188,222. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SQ. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its stake in Block by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 10,618 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $898,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc grew its stake in Block by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 2,300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $195,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in Block by 25.4% in the 1st quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 765 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Block by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $409,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CAP Partners LLC grew its stake in Block by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. CAP Partners LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. 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.