Block (NYSE:SQ) Given New $92.00 Price Target at UBS Group

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its price target cut by analysts at UBS Group from $100.00 to $92.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the technology company’s stock. UBS Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 40.35% from the stock’s previous close.

SQ has been the subject of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target 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. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.52.

Block Stock Up 0.3 %

SQ stock opened at $65.55 on Tuesday. 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 has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $87.52. The company has a 50-day moving average of $63.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The company had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Block will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $30,318.27. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $30,318.27. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.77, for a total transaction of $539,404.56. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 580,086 shares in the company, valued at $37,572,170.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 28,179 shares of company stock valued at $1,833,962. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SQ. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 0.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,511,250 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,088,122,000 after purchasing an additional 318,549 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Block by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,096,614 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,107,712,000 after acquiring an additional 582,826 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its stake in Block by 45.7% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $650,396,000 after acquiring an additional 3,163,975 shares in the last quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its position in Block by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 8,982,862 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $694,735,000 after acquiring an additional 71,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Block by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $494,672,000 after acquiring an additional 934,588 shares in the last quarter. 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.