Block (NYSE:SQ) Price Target Raised to $80.00

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its price objective hoisted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $71.00 to $80.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the technology company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Block from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Monday, October 21st. William Blair upgraded Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, New Street Research started coverage on Block in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $90.56.

Block Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE SQ opened at $74.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.89, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 2.48. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $68.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. Block has a 52 week low of $50.86 and a 52 week high of $87.52.

Insider Activity

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total value of $30,940.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,715,608.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total transaction of $30,940.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,715,608.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.77, for a total value of $539,404.56. Following the sale, the insider now owns 580,086 shares in the company, valued at $37,572,170.22. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,214 shares of company stock worth $1,637,932. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. National Pension Service increased its position in Block by 13.5% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,083,113 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,709,000 after buying an additional 128,832 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its stake in Block by 13.9% during the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $494,672,000 after buying an additional 934,588 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in shares of Block by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 541,204 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,969,000 after purchasing an additional 14,163 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in shares of Block by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 115,900 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,780,000 after purchasing an additional 12,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Block by 165.2% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 453,545 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,446,000 after buying an additional 282,550 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is 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.