Block (NYSE:SQ) PT Lowered to $55.00 at Morgan Stanley

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its price objective lowered by Morgan Stanley from $60.00 to $55.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

SQ has been the subject of a number of other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a buy rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, June 24th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Block from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Macquarie restated an outperform rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $87.22.

Block Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of SQ opened at $60.38 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.18. Block has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.42, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 2.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.04%. The company had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.27 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.40 EPS. Block’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Block will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $91,070.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 93,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,651,194.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $91,070.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 93,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,651,194.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,788 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $483,712.88. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,158,456.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,505 shares of company stock valued at $1,683,811 over the last 90 days. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Montag A & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 843.2% in the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 349 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in Block in the first quarter worth $28,000. Tidemark LLC bought a new stake in Block in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Block in the first quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Vima LLC bought a new stake in Block in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.