Macquarie Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Block (NYSE:SQ)

Block (NYSE:SQ)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by investment analysts at Macquarie in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $100.00 target price on the technology company’s stock. Macquarie’s target price suggests a potential upside of 66.17% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also commented on SQ. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Monday, June 24th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price target (down from $62.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Block has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.64.

Block Stock Down 2.3 %

SQ stock traded down $1.40 during trading on Friday, reaching $60.18. 11,346,562 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,896,192. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.48. Block has a 12 month low of $38.85 and a 12 month high of $87.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. The company has a market capitalization of $37.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 2.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.75 billion. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.04%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Block will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Block

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

Institutional Trading of Block

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SQ. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Block by 29.5% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 420,105 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,495,000 after buying an additional 95,603 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth about $213,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Block by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,204 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $867,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Block by 3,995.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 901 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Block by 38.5% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,343 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.