Block (NYSE:SQ) Upgraded by William Blair to Outperform

William Blair upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report report published on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on SQ. Wedbush reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a neutral rating on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Block presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $87.33.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SQ opened at $68.10 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $66.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.60. Block has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52. The company has a market cap of $42.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.44, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 2.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.32. Block had a return on equity of 2.04% and a net margin of 2.18%. The firm had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.75 billion. Research analysts predict that Block will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,500 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $175,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 92,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,443,360. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,796,849.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $175,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 92,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,443,360. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 138,173 shares of company stock valued at $9,363,222. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SQ. Wedmont Private Capital acquired a new stake in Block in the fourth quarter worth $228,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Block by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 37,424 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,901,000 after buying an additional 2,872 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Block during the fourth quarter worth about $244,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC grew its stake in Block by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $489,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its holdings in shares of Block by 83.5% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 17,568 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after acquiring an additional 7,996 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Block

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.