Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Has Lowered Expectations for Block (NYSE:SQ) Stock Price

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its price objective lowered by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $105.00 to $100.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the technology company’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 14.08% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Block from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.77.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SQ opened at $87.66 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.65. Block has a twelve month low of $55.00 and a twelve month high of $99.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 2.51. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,964 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 88,607 shares in the company, valued at $7,088,560. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $80,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 88,791 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,103,280. The trade was a 1.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,981 shares of company stock worth $2,681,185 over the last three months. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Block during the third quarter valued at approximately $114,121,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Block by 770.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,738,708 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $116,719,000 after purchasing an additional 1,538,849 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Block by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $494,672,000 after purchasing an additional 934,588 shares in the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. boosted its position in shares of Block by 76.7% during the second quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 1,831,342 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $118,103,000 after buying an additional 795,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Block by 1,061.0% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 657,667 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,413,000 after buying an additional 601,020 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is 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.