Short Interest in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Drops By 16.5%

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,490,000 shares, a drop of 16.5% from the June 30th total of 12,560,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 7,520,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on SQ. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Block from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Block from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.41.

Block Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Block stock opened at $60.88 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $65.37 and its 200-day moving average is $70.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Block has a 12-month low of $38.85 and a 12-month high of $87.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.57 billion, a PE ratio of 78.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.75 billion. Block had a return on equity of 2.04% and a net margin of 2.18%. Equities analysts anticipate that Block will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $91,070.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 93,337 shares in the company, valued at $6,651,194.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 138,173 shares of company stock worth $9,363,222. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Block by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,511,250 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,088,122,000 after acquiring an additional 318,549 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Block by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,096,614 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,107,712,000 after purchasing an additional 582,826 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Block by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 10,377,973 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $802,736,000 after purchasing an additional 75,161 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of Block by 45.7% during the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $650,396,000 after purchasing an additional 3,163,975 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its position in shares of Block by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 8,982,862 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $694,735,000 after purchasing an additional 71,735 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.