Block Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:SQ)

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 92,851 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 33% compared to the typical volume of 69,776 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on SQ. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. BNP Paribas downgraded Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Block from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, UBS Group decreased 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.46.

Insider Activity

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,884 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total value of $123,232.44. Following the sale, the insider now owns 574,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,605,124.74. This trade represents a 0.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.43, for a total value of $609,015.23. Following the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,053 shares of company stock worth $2,393,972. 10.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SQ. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted 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 valued at $686,948,000 after buying an additional 147,873 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Block by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,690,075 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $581,923,000 after acquiring an additional 133,002 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its position in Block by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $494,672,000 after acquiring an additional 934,588 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Block by 2.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,202,388 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $147,846,000 after acquiring an additional 45,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Block Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE SQ opened at $89.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.32. Block has a 12 month low of $55.00 and a 12 month high of $94.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.19 billion, a PE ratio of 50.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 2.48.

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.