Block (NYSE:SQ) Shares Gap Up to $74.07

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ – Get Rating) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $74.07, but opened at $76.12. Block shares last traded at $75.74, with a volume of 2,150,039 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on SQ. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Credit Suisse Group boosted their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Block from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $107.62.

Block Stock Down 1.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.85. The company has a market cap of $44.54 billion, a PE ratio of -77.87 and a beta of 2.35. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $76.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.53.

Block (NYSE:SQ – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 23rd. The technology company reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $4.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.53 billion. Block had a negative return on equity of 2.28% and a negative net margin of 3.11%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, insider Alyssa Henry sold 30,769 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.49, for a total value of $1,830,447.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 422,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,141,485.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Block news, insider Alyssa Henry sold 30,769 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.49, for a total value of $1,830,447.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 422,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,141,485.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,032 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.28, for a total value of $66,336.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 46,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,014,217.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 272,592 shares of company stock valued at $20,272,270 over the last quarter. 11.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in shares of Block by 63.6% during the second quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 216,168 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,286,000 after purchasing an additional 84,008 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its stake in shares of Block by 42,272.9% during the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 25,000 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,536,000 after purchasing an additional 24,941 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of Block by 8.2% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 42,824 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,355,000 after purchasing an additional 3,229 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in shares of Block by 0.8% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 129,006 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024 shares during the period. Finally, NuWave Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the third quarter valued at approximately $180,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.49% of the company’s stock.

About Block

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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.