Block (NYSE:SQ) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Benchmark

Benchmark reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a $99.00 target price on the technology company’s stock.

SQ has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a neutral rating on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday. William Blair reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Block from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an in-line rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Block from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $87.55.

Block Trading Up 5.8 %

SQ traded up $4.06 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $73.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,642,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,202,957. Block has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The business’s 50-day moving average is $77.63 and its 200-day moving average is $68.33. The stock has a market cap of $45.27 billion, a PE ratio of 94.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 2.57.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a return on equity of 2.07% and a net margin of 2.18%. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Block will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $42,180.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,425,318.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 477,469 shares of company stock valued at $34,963,585 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Block by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,799,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277,043 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in Block by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,513,788 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $967,942,000 after purchasing an additional 212,218 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 11,887,628 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $919,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,514 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Block by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 10,377,973 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $802,736,000 after buying an additional 75,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Block by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 8,982,862 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $694,735,000 after buying an additional 71,735 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.