Block (NYSE:SQ) Earns Neutral Rating from Analysts at New Street Research

New Street Research assumed coverage on shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $70.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Block presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $87.34.

Block Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of SQ stock opened at $63.36 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $64.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.55. The firm has a market cap of $39.01 billion, a PE ratio of 82.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 2.49. Block has a 1-year low of $38.85 and a 1-year high of $87.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.82.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Block will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,007.75. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $175,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 92,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,443,360. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,000,007.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its stake in shares of Block by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 9,567 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $740,000 after acquiring an additional 714 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth approximately $512,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 35.3% in the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 89,776 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,944,000 after buying an additional 23,433 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Block by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,724,520 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $133,436,000 after buying an additional 334,877 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth $349,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.