Block (NYSE:SQ) Now Covered by Analysts at Berenberg Bank

Berenberg Bank initiated coverage on shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) in a report published on Monday morning, FlyOnTheWall reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on SQ. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. Wolfe Research lowered their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $85.00 in a report on Monday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Block from $70.00 to $69.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group reiterated an outperform rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $85.68.

Block Price Performance

SQ stock opened at $53.94 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $32.91 billion, a PE ratio of -122.59 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. Block has a one year low of $51.34 and a one year high of $89.97. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.54.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The technology company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.10 billion. Block had a negative net margin of 1.38% and a negative return on equity of 0.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.19) EPS. On average, analysts predict that Block will post -0.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 629 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.49, for a total transaction of $35,532.21. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 72,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,122,696.69. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Alyssa Henry sold 2,357 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.49, for a total transaction of $133,146.93. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 479,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,098,704.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.49, for a total transaction of $35,532.21. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 72,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,122,696.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 34,200 shares of company stock valued at $2,310,864. 10.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Inceptionr LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 1st quarter valued at about $239,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 58,733 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,032,000 after acquiring an additional 10,985 shares during the last quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC now owns 5,223 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 5,152 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $354,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its stake in shares of Block by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 320,444 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $21,998,000 after purchasing an additional 3,552 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.17% of the company’s stock.

About Block

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.