Block (NYSE:SQ) Given In-Line Rating at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI restated their in-line rating on shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $75.00 target price on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on SQ. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Block from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Block from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. BTIG Research raised Block from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 5th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Block has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $83.69.

Block Price Performance

Shares of Block stock opened at $84.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $52.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 489.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 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 has a 50 day moving average price of $73.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.85. Block has a one year low of $38.85 and a one year high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. Block had a return on equity of 0.63% and a net margin of 0.04%. Equities analysts expect that Block will post 1.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 4,831 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.51, for a total value of $359,957.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 285,860 shares in the company, valued at $21,299,428.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 4,831 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.51, for a total value of $359,957.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 285,860 shares in the company, valued at $21,299,428.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 2,581 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $165,958.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 201,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,972,782.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 258,056 shares of company stock worth $18,407,064 over the last quarter. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Block by 10.4% in the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,222,600 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $54,112,000 after acquiring an additional 115,132 shares in the last quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its stake in Block by 1.5% in the third quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 261,300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,565,000 after buying an additional 3,900 shares in the last quarter. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC raised its stake in Block by 50.5% in the second quarter. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC now owns 4,685,391 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $311,906,000 after buying an additional 1,572,356 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Block by 16.1% during the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,373,857 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $60,807,000 after purchasing an additional 190,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the third quarter worth about $359,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently 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.