Block (NYSE:SQ) Given Buy Rating at Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their buy rating on shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $99.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on SQ. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a neutral rating on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an underweight rating and set a $60.00 target price (down from $62.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $87.55.

Block Price Performance

SQ opened at $73.56 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.53, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 2.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $77.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.53. Block has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts expect that Block will post 1.29 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,790,374.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 477,469 shares of company stock valued at $34,963,585 over the last quarter. 10.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Block by 0.3% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 276,975 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,259,000 after buying an additional 748 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Block by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 83,911 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,714,000 after purchasing an additional 7,507 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 3.8% during the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 42,171 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,866,000 after purchasing an additional 1,562 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Block by 5.0% in the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 154,987 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,860,000 after purchasing an additional 7,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the 3rd quarter worth about $434,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.