Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Block (NYSE:SQ) Stock Price

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its target price increased by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $85.00 to $95.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 11.16% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on SQ. Raymond James upgraded Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, November 15th. BNP Paribas cut Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Block from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.68.

Block Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of SQ stock traded up $0.67 on Thursday, reaching $85.46. 545,804 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,251,939. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $88.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.68 billion, a PE ratio of 48.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 2.51. Block has a 52 week low of $55.00 and a 52 week high of $99.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,000 shares of the business’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 $80,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 88,791 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,103,280. The trade was a 1.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.18, for a total value of $759,347.04. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 563,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,415,854.92. This trade represents a 1.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 29,981 shares of company stock worth $2,681,185. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Block by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,651,886 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,891,000 after purchasing an additional 8,200 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Block by 13.5% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,083,113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $72,709,000 after purchasing an additional 128,832 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings 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 last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Block by 6.2% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 253,787 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $17,037,000 after acquiring an additional 14,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Block by 13.9% in the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $494,672,000 after acquiring an additional 934,588 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Block Company Profile

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.