Block (NYSE:SQ) Rating Increased to Outperform at William Blair

William Blair upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

SQ has been the topic of several other reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Block from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Benchmark restated a buy rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Block from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. Evercore ISI reiterated an in-line rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Wedbush restated an outperform rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $87.33.

Block Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE SQ opened at $68.10 on Thursday. Block has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market cap of $42.02 billion, a PE ratio of 88.44, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 2.52. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.61.

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

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total value of $7,679,410.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 603,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,796,849.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $30,318.27. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,977,784.42. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total value of $7,679,410.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 138,173 shares of company stock valued at $9,363,222 in the last 90 days. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Montag A & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Block by 843.2% during the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 349 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in Block in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Tidemark LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Vima LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 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.