Brokerages Set Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Price Target at $85.67

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-four analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $85.67.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SQ. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total value of $42,375.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total value of $8,364,510.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at $26,521,910.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,790,374.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 363,801 shares of company stock valued at $27,284,175. Corporate insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SQ. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Block by 2,333.6% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 303,201 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,645,000 after buying an additional 290,742 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in Block by 6.8% in the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 298,622 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,258,000 after acquiring an additional 19,127 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Block by 18.3% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 50,066 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,235,000 after acquiring an additional 7,732 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in Block by 20.5% during the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,095 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 356 shares during the period. Finally, XY Capital Ltd bought a new position in Block in the 1st quarter worth $7,049,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE SQ opened at $75.30 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $46.36 billion, a PE ratio of 438.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 2.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Block has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $87.52. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.61.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a net margin of 0.04% and a return on equity of 0.63%. The company had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Block will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

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.