William Blair Upgrades Block (NYSE:SQ) to “Strong-Buy”

William Blair upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Zacks.com reports. William Blair also issued estimates for Block’s Q2 2024 earnings at $0.40 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $0.41 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $0.46 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $1.64 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.60 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.68 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.70 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.74 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $2.70 EPS.

SQ has been the subject of several other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a buy rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Susquehanna reissued a positive rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Block from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a buy rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Block currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $87.22.

Block Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:SQ opened at $60.38 on Wednesday. Block has a 52 week low of $38.85 and a 52 week high of $87.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. The company has a market capitalization of $37.26 billion, a PE ratio of 78.42, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 2.52. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $64.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.18.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS 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 3.81%. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Block will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $175,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 92,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,443,360. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $175,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 92,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,443,360. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 5,155 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $367,345.30. Following the sale, the insider now owns 599,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,695,429. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,505 shares of company stock worth $1,683,811. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SQ. Norges Bank bought a new position in Block during the fourth quarter worth about $528,996,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in Block by 3,525.7% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $459,072,000 after acquiring an additional 5,771,310 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its position in Block by 70.0% during the fourth quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,606,269 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $510,995,000 after acquiring an additional 2,720,123 shares during the period. Trivest Advisors Ltd bought a new position in Block during the fourth quarter worth about $157,021,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Block by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,799,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277,043 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is owned by 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.