Block (SQ) Set to Announce Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

Block (NYSE:SQ) will release its earnings data after the market closes on Thursday, May 2nd. Analysts expect Block to post earnings of $0.62 per share for the quarter. Parties interested in listening to the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. Block had a return on equity of 0.63% and a net margin of 0.04%. On average, analysts expect Block to post $1 EPS for the current fiscal year and $2 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Block Price Performance

NYSE:SQ opened at $74.02 on Thursday. Block has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $87.52. The company has a market cap of $45.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 414.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 2.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.86.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 2,581 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $165,958.30. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 201,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,972,782.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at $26,521,910.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 363,801 shares of company stock valued at $27,284,175. 10.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on SQ shares. Benchmark upped their price objective on Block from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Block from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $60.00 target price (down previously from $62.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.67.

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.