Block (NYSE:SQ) PT Lowered to $77.00

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its price objective decreased by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $90.00 to $77.00 in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the technology company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price indicates a potential upside of 58.18% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. TD Cowen began coverage on Block in a report on Friday, October 6th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $59.00 price target for the company. Mizuho increased their target price on Block from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Block from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Block from $85.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Block from $88.00 to $87.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and twenty-two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.75.

Block Trading Up 10.7 %

Block stock opened at $48.68 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $47.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market cap of $29.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -103.57 and a beta of 2.34. Block has a 12 month low of $38.85 and a 12 month high of $89.97.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The technology company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.10 billion. Block had a negative return on equity of 0.61% and a negative net margin of 1.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.19) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Block will post -0.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 3,998 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.16, for a total value of $176,551.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 226,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,012,176. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 3,998 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.16, for a total value of $176,551.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 226,725 shares in the company, valued at $10,012,176. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 629 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.49, for a total value of $35,532.21. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 72,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,122,696.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,222 shares of company stock worth $1,006,326. Corporate insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its stake in shares of Block by 77,283.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 11,698,072 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $778,741,000 after acquiring an additional 11,682,955 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Block by 0.5% in the second quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,368,613 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $756,809,000 after purchasing an additional 55,250 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Block by 1.5% in the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 10,887,114 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $481,864,000 after purchasing an additional 160,179 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Block by 6.6% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 10,377,309 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $690,817,000 after purchasing an additional 643,825 shares during the period. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. increased its holdings in Block by 17.8% in the first quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 8,205,524 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $551,252,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,427 shares during the period. 61.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.