Benchmark Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Block (NYSE:SQ)

Benchmark restated their buy rating on shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $99.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on SQ. Mizuho upped their price objective on Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Block from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Susquehanna restated a positive rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an underweight rating and issued a $60.00 price objective (down previously from $62.00) on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $87.55.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SQ traded up $4.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $73.53. The company had a trading volume of 11,642,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,202,957. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Block has a 1 year low of $38.85 and a 1 year high of $87.52. The company has a market capitalization of $45.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 2.57. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $77.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.33.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. The business 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Block will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Block 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 transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total transaction of $42,180.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,823 shares in the company, valued at $4,425,318.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 477,469 shares of company stock valued at $34,963,585 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Block by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,799,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277,043 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Block by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,513,788 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $967,942,000 after purchasing an additional 212,218 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Block by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 11,887,628 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $919,508,000 after buying an additional 1,000,514 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Block by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 10,377,973 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $802,736,000 after acquiring an additional 75,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. increased its position in shares of Block by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 8,982,862 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $694,735,000 after acquiring an additional 71,735 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.