Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-one brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, twenty-four have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $88.79.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SQ shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Block from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, June 24th.

Block Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:SQ opened at $74.66 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 2.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.82. Block has a 12-month low of $38.85 and a 12-month high of $87.52.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The company had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Block will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,007.75. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total transaction of $30,940.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,715,608.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 25,214 shares of company stock valued at $1,637,932. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Block by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,511,250 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,088,122,000 after acquiring an additional 318,549 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased 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 worth $1,107,712,000 after purchasing an additional 582,826 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in Block by 45.7% during the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $650,396,000 after purchasing an additional 3,163,975 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its position in Block by 13.9% in the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $494,672,000 after buying an additional 934,588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 17.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,157,733 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $139,143,000 after acquiring an additional 326,444 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.