Block (NYSE:SQ) Upgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday morning.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on SQ. BNP Paribas raised shares of Block from an underperform rating to an outperform rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Block from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Block from $88.00 to $87.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research reduced their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Monday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $86.32.

Block Stock Down 3.0 %

SQ stock opened at $51.25 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $64.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.72. Block has a 12 month low of $51.24 and a 12 month high of $89.97. The company has a market cap of $31.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -116.48 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 (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $5.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 revenue for the quarter was up 25.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.19) EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Block will post -0.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, Director Lawrence Henry Summers sold 3,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.09, for a total transaction of $242,418.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,280 shares in the company, valued at $1,472,485.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 3,369 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.49, for a total transaction of $190,314.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 230,723 shares in the company, valued at $13,033,542.27. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lawrence Henry Summers sold 3,668 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.09, for a total value of $242,418.12. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,472,485.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,200 shares of company stock worth $2,310,864 over the last three months. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SQ. Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at about $221,000. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Block by 215.0% in the 2nd quarter. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP now owns 315,001 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $20,970,000 after purchasing an additional 215,001 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,786,000. Portside Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth $3,312,000. Finally, Alamar Capital Management LLC grew its position in Block by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter. Alamar Capital Management LLC now owns 17,762 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 1,816 shares during the last quarter. 61.17% of the stock is currently 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.