Block (NYSE:SQ) Price Target Raised to $92.00

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its target price upped by TD Cowen from $90.00 to $92.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Block from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. KeyCorp raised their target price on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Citigroup increased their price target on Block from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a buy rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $87.55.

Block Trading Up 5.8 %

Shares of SQ traded up $4.06 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $73.53. 11,642,848 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,202,957. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Block has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $87.52. The firm has a market cap of $45.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 2.57.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a return on equity of 2.07% and a net margin of 2.18%. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Block will post 1.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,425,318.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $42,180.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,823 shares in the company, valued at $4,425,318.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 111,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.73, for a total value of $9,238,128.18. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 485,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,177,410.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 477,469 shares of company stock valued at $34,963,585. Corporate insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. WBI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block during the 1st quarter valued at about $349,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its holdings in Block by 55.9% in the 1st quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 16,124 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,364,000 after buying an additional 5,783 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its position in shares of Block by 1.6% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 19,453 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,645,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Block by 240.9% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 127,001 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,741,000 after acquiring an additional 89,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Block by 3.8% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 38,862 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,253,000 after acquiring an additional 1,438 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.