Block (NYSE:SQ) Price Target Cut to $92.00

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its target price reduced by UBS Group from $100.00 to $92.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Benchmark restated a buy rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wedbush reiterated an outperform rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Block from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $87.52.

Block Price Performance

Shares of SQ opened at $66.07 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $64.27 and a 200-day moving average of $69.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.82. The company has a market capitalization of $40.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.52. Block has a 1 year low of $38.85 and a 1 year high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Block will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total value of $430,966.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 264,697 shares in the company, valued at $17,125,895.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $30,318.27. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,977,784.42. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total value of $430,966.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 264,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,125,895.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Block during the 4th quarter valued at $528,996,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in shares of Block by 45.7% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $650,396,000 after buying an additional 3,163,975 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its position in Block by 70.0% during the 4th quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,606,269 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $510,995,000 after buying an additional 2,720,123 shares in the last quarter. Trivest Advisors Ltd purchased a new position in Block during the fourth quarter valued at $157,021,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,277,043 shares in the last quarter. 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.