Block’s (SQ) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated their buy rating on shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) in a report published on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a $80.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on SQ. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Wedbush restated an outperform rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Block from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a neutral rating on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $87.13.

Block Trading Down 1.2 %

Block stock opened at $63.28 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.05 billion, a PE ratio of 82.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 2.54. Block has a 12-month low of $38.85 and a 12-month high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.75 billion. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.04%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Block will post 1.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 111,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $40,177,410.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 111,666 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.73, for a total transaction of $9,238,128.18. Following the sale, the insider now owns 485,645 shares in the company, valued at $40,177,410.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 247,739 shares of company stock worth $18,584,747 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Montag A & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Block by 843.2% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in Block during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Front Row Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Block by 67,500.0% during the 3rd quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 676 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Tidemark LLC bought a new position in Block during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block in the first quarter worth about $33,000. 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.