Block (NYSE:SQ) Price Target Raised to $98.00 at Robert W. Baird

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its price target increased by Robert W. Baird from $95.00 to $98.00 in a report issued on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the technology company’s stock.

SQ has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an underweight rating and set a $60.00 target price (down from $62.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Block from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on shares of Block from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Evercore ISI restated an in-line rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, William Blair restated a market perform rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $85.22.

Block Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:SQ opened at $70.43 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $76.75 and a 200-day moving average of $66.04. The firm has a market cap of $43.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 423.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 2.55. Block has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month 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.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly 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. Block had a net margin of 0.04% and a return on equity of 0.63%. The company had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Block will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $42,180.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,823 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,425,318.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $42,180.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,823 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,425,318.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 405,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 363,801 shares of company stock worth $27,284,175. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Block by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,222,600 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $54,112,000 after purchasing an additional 115,132 shares in the last quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. increased its position in Block by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 261,300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,565,000 after acquiring an additional 3,900 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the 4th quarter valued at about $213,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in Block by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,373,857 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $60,807,000 after acquiring an additional 190,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new stake in Block in the 3rd quarter valued at about $359,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.