Block (NYSE:SQ) Price Target Raised to $105.00

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its target price raised by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $95.00 to $105.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 51.14% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Block from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Block from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Block from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.42.

Block Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE SQ opened at $69.47 on Friday. Block has a 1 year low of $38.85 and a 1 year high of $87.52. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $77.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.16. The firm has a market cap of $42.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.07%. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Block will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total value of $7,679,410.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total value of $7,679,410.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,790,374.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 477,469 shares of company stock valued at $34,963,585. Insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SQ. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Block during the 4th quarter valued at about $528,996,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its stake in Block by 3,525.7% during the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $459,072,000 after purchasing an additional 5,771,310 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new position in Block during the 3rd quarter valued at about $172,001,000. Trivest Advisors Ltd acquired a new position in Block during the 4th quarter valued at about $157,021,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Block by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,799,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277,043 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.