Block (NYSE:SQ) Stock Rating Upgraded by Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $115.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Block from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Block from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Macquarie raised their price objective on Block from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $94.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.94.

Block Trading Up 6.2 %

Shares of Block stock opened at $92.16 on Friday. Block has a 1 year low of $55.00 and a 1 year high of $99.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 2.07. The stock has a market cap of $57.12 billion, a PE ratio of 51.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 2.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $87.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.11.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $80,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 88,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,103,280. This represents a 1.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.18, for a total value of $759,347.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 563,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,415,854.92. The trade was a 1.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,599 shares of company stock valued at $2,120,494 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SQ. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Block by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,651,886 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,891,000 after buying an additional 8,200 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its holdings in Block by 13.5% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,083,113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $72,709,000 after buying an additional 128,832 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in Block by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,233,102 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $686,948,000 after purchasing an additional 147,873 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Block by 6.2% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 253,787 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $17,037,000 after buying an additional 14,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Block by 13.9% during the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $494,672,000 after purchasing an additional 934,588 shares during the period. 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.