Traders Buy High Volume of Block Call Options (NYSE:SQ)

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 85,865 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 30% compared to the average daily volume of 65,980 call options.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of SQ stock traded up $2.33 on Friday, hitting $68.82. 3,663,141 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,943,803. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The company has a market capitalization of $42.46 billion, a PE ratio of 86.34, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 2.52. Block has a 1-year low of $38.85 and a 1-year high of $87.52. The company’s fifty day moving average is $66.32 and its 200 day moving average is $70.94.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 5,155 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $367,345.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 599,150 shares in the company, valued at $42,695,429. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 5,155 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now owns 599,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,695,429. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $483,712.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,158,456.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 135,673 shares of company stock worth $9,188,222. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Block by 9.3% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 7,637 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 652 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter worth about $225,000. Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Block by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,915,658 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,545,367,000 after acquiring an additional 585,801 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS increased its holdings in shares of Block by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 93,155 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,206,000 after acquiring an additional 1,005 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Block from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a 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 report on Tuesday, March 26th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.33.

Block Company Profile

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.