Block (NYSE:SQ) Stock Rating Upgraded by William Blair

Block (NYSE:SQ) was upgraded by stock analysts at William Blair to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, Zacks.com reports.

SQ has been the subject of several other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Block from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their price target on Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.25.

Block Stock Down 3.2 %

SQ stock opened at $59.89 on Wednesday. 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 $36.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.52. The business has a 50-day moving average of $64.64 and a 200-day moving average of $70.22. Block has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.75 billion. Block had a return on equity of 2.04% and a net margin of 2.18%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Block will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of Block stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 93,337 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,651,194.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of Block stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 93,337 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,651,194.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $483,712.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 282,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,158,456.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,505 shares of company stock worth $1,683,811. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Block by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 18,855 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,216,000 after buying an additional 1,305 shares during the last quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $804,000. Cravens & Co Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Block by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cravens & Co Advisors LLC now owns 5,511 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Block by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,368 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after buying an additional 724 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Block by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 45,805 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,954,000 after buying an additional 4,237 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.