Block (NYSE:SQ) Stock Price Up 0.6%

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)’s share price rose 0.6% on Monday . The company traded as high as $66.58 and last traded at $65.73. Approximately 1,355,007 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 8,673,938 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.36.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Block from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.52.

Block Trading Down 3.0 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $64.13 and a 200 day moving average of $69.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.82. The firm has a market cap of $39.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.99, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The business had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $30,318.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,866 shares in the company, valued at $5,977,784.42. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962 over the last three months. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Block

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SQ. Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Block by 843.2% during the fourth 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 bought a new position in shares of Block during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Tidemark LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Block during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Vima LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.