Block (NYSE:SQ) Receives “Buy” Rating from Canaccord Genuity Group

Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated their buy rating on shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $95.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI reiterated an in-line rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Mizuho raised their price target on Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler reiterated an overweight rating and set a $88.00 price target (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Susquehanna restated a positive rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $87.42.

Block Price Performance

SQ stock traded down $0.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $69.47. 28,948,341 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,617,495. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $77.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.83. Block has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $87.52. The company has a market capitalization 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

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

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 4,170 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.84, for a total transaction of $328,762.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,231,257.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of Block 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,521,910.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 477,469 shares of company stock valued at $34,963,585 in the last three months. Company insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Block in the fourth quarter worth about $528,996,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 3,525.7% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $459,072,000 after buying an additional 5,771,310 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the third quarter valued at approximately $172,001,000. Trivest Advisors Ltd bought a new position in Block in the fourth quarter worth approximately $157,021,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Block by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,799,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277,043 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by 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.