Block (NYSE:SQ) Price Target Raised to $112.00

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its price objective hoisted by Barclays from $100.00 to $112.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $94.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.33.

Block Price Performance

NYSE SQ opened at $87.64 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $54.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.24, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 2.50. Block has a 52-week low of $55.00 and a 52-week high of $99.26. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,884 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total transaction of $123,232.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 574,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,605,124.74. The trade was a 0.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.43, for a total value of $609,015.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 246,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,580,192.81. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,918 shares of company stock valued at $2,666,147 over the last ninety days. 10.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SQ. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in Block by 1.5% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,233,102 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $686,948,000 after buying an additional 147,873 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,690,075 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $581,923,000 after purchasing an additional 133,002 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Block by 13.9% in the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $494,672,000 after purchasing an additional 934,588 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Block by 2.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,202,388 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $147,846,000 after purchasing an additional 45,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Block by 17.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,157,733 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $139,143,000 after purchasing an additional 326,444 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.