Block (NYSE:SQ) Price Target Lowered to $80.00 at Needham & Company LLC

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its price target cut by Needham & Company LLC from $105.00 to $80.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price points to a potential upside of 40.28% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on SQ. Mizuho raised their price objective on Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Monday, June 24th. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.20.

Block Stock Performance

SQ traded down $3.35 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $57.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,213,418 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,955,391. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $64.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.26. The stock has a market cap of $35.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.90, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.52. Block has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.81%. The business had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. Block’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Block will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $91,070.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 93,337 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,651,194.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $91,070.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 93,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,651,194.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.13, for a total value of $338,414.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 274,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,597,913.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,505 shares of company stock valued at $1,683,811 in the last three months. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the second quarter worth approximately $85,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Block by 32.4% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 37,395 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,384,000 after buying an additional 9,142 shares during the period. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $984,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Block by 1.0% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 139,574 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,001,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Block by 190.2% during the 2nd quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 12,375 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $798,000 after acquiring an additional 8,111 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.