Block (NYSE:SQ) Given New $85.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its price objective reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $95.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on SQ. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Block from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Macquarie reiterated an outperform rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a positive rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $86.20.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE SQ traded up $0.89 during trading on Friday, reaching $58.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,768,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,947,966. Block has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52. The firm has a market cap of $35.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.52. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $64.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a return on equity of 3.81% and a net margin of 3.47%. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Block will post 1.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 93,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,651,194.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,277 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.13, for a total transaction of $338,414.01. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 274,410 shares in the company, valued at $17,597,913.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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. Insiders sold 24,505 shares of company stock worth $1,683,811 over the last three months. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its stake in Block by 1.3% in the first quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 10,618 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $898,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc increased its stake in Block by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 2,300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $195,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its position in shares of Block by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 765 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Block by 3.4% in the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, CAP Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Block by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. CAP Partners LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $403,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.