Block (NYSE:SQ) Receives Buy Rating from The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group reissued their buy rating on shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) in a report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a $80.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Benchmark restated a buy rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wolfe Research raised their price target on Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a buy rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup raised their price target on Block from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on Block from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $87.13.

Block Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of Block stock opened at $64.40 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.73. Block has a 1 year low of $38.85 and a 1 year high of $87.52. The company has a market capitalization of $39.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 2.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.32. Block had a return on equity of 2.04% and a net margin of 2.18%. The company had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.75 billion. Research analysts forecast that Block will post 1.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 603,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 603,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total value of $42,375.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 247,739 shares of company stock worth $18,584,747 over the last quarter. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Block

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in Block in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Block by 843.2% in the 4th quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 349 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Block in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Block in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Tidemark LLC bought a new position in Block in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other 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.