Monness Crespi & Hardt Reiterates “Neutral” Rating for Block (NYSE:SQ)

Block (NYSE:SQ)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by stock analysts at Monness Crespi & Hardt in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports.

SQ has been the topic of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $60.00 target price (down previously from $62.00) on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. 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 research note on Friday, February 23rd. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. 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 research note on Friday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.42.

Block Price Performance

Block stock traded down $0.83 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $69.47. The company had a trading volume of 28,948,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,617,495. Block has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market cap of $42.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.57. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.83.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.07%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Block will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total value of $8,364,510.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 405,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 4,170 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.84, for a total transaction of $328,762.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 193,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,231,257.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 477,469 shares of company stock valued at $34,963,585 in the last quarter. Insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WBI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the 1st quarter valued at $349,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its position in Block by 55.9% during the 1st quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 16,124 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,364,000 after buying an additional 5,783 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its position in Block by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 19,453 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,645,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Block by 240.9% during the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 127,001 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,741,000 after buying an additional 89,744 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Block by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 38,862 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,253,000 after buying an additional 1,438 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.