Block’s (SQ) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their outperform rating on shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $88.00 price target on the technology company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on SQ. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Block from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group cut their price target on Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.79.

Block Price Performance

SQ opened at $71.39 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $43.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 2.49. Block has a 12 month low of $38.85 and a 12 month high of $87.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.11.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The company had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. Block’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Block will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, Director Roelof Botha acquired 434,405 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total transaction of $33,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 90,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,060,820. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,214 shares of company stock worth $1,637,932. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 10,618 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $898,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Yoder Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Block by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Yoder Wealth Management Inc. now owns 39,688 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,664,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. Financial Perspectives Inc raised its position in shares of Block by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 2,300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $195,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 765 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, CAP Partners LLC increased its stake in Block by 3.5% in the first quarter. CAP Partners LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $403,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

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.