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

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

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Block from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday. Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Block from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, William Blair restated a market perform rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $87.42.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SQ traded down $0.83 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $69.47. 28,948,341 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,617,495. Block has a 52 week low of $38.85 and a 52 week high of $87.52. The company has a market cap of $42.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.20, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.57. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $77.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.83. 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 results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a return on equity of 2.07% and a net margin of 2.18%. The company had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Block will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total value of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 405,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,521,910.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 2,581 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $165,958.30. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 201,754 shares in the company, valued at $12,972,782.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have 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 Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WBI Investments LLC bought a new position in Block during the 1st quarter valued at about $349,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its holdings in shares of Block by 55.9% during the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 16,124 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,364,000 after buying an additional 5,783 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its holdings in shares of Block by 1.6% during the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 19,453 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,645,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $10,741,000 after acquiring an additional 89,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Block by 3.8% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.