Block (NYSE:SQ) Price Target Raised to $65.00

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its price target upped by Morgan Stanley from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research note published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on SQ. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Block from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.33.

Block Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE SQ opened at $89.65 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $55.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block has a 52 week low of $55.00 and a 52 week high of $99.26. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $84.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.39.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,884 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total value of $123,232.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,605,124.74. This represents a 0.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,964 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $237,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 88,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,088,560. This represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,918 shares of company stock valued at $2,666,147 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Block

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SQ. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in Block by 1.5% in the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,233,102 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $686,948,000 after acquiring an additional 147,873 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Block by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,690,075 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $581,923,000 after purchasing an additional 133,002 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Block by 13.9% during the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $494,672,000 after acquiring an additional 934,588 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Block by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,202,388 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $147,846,000 after purchasing an additional 45,472 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Block by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,157,733 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $139,143,000 after acquiring an additional 326,444 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.