Block’s (SQ) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $90.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. BTIG Research upgraded Block from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. William Blair reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an underweight rating and issued a $60.00 price objective (down from $62.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Block has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $87.42.

Block Price Performance

Shares of Block stock traded down $0.83 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $69.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 28,948,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,617,495. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $77.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market cap of $42.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.57. Block has a one year low of $38.85 and a one year high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a return on equity of 2.07% and a net margin of 2.18%. The company had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. On average, analysts predict that Block will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $42,180.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,425,318.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 477,469 shares of company stock worth $34,963,585 in the last 90 days. 10.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 0.3% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 276,975 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,259,000 after buying an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Block by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 83,911 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,714,000 after acquiring an additional 7,507 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in Block by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 42,171 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 1,562 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Block by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 154,987 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,860,000 after purchasing an additional 7,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block in the third quarter valued at about $434,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.