Block (NYSE:SQ) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Analyst Says

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its target price boosted by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $80.00 to $105.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the technology company’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 11.67% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Block from $87.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.21.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SQ opened at $94.03 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07. The firm has a market cap of $58.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 2.50. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.77. Block has a fifty-two week low of $55.00 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

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 value of $33,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 90,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,060,820. This trade represents a 0.55 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,884 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total transaction of $123,232.44. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 574,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,605,124.74. The trade was a 0.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,918 shares of company stock valued at $2,666,147 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Block

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Block by 139.2% in the second quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Block by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 8,382 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $541,000 after acquiring an additional 753 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 36.3% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 9,468 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $611,000 after acquiring an additional 2,521 shares during the last quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Block by 11.4% in the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 14,363 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $926,000 after acquiring an additional 1,466 shares during the period. Finally, KRS Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Block by 48.7% during the second quarter. KRS Capital Management LLC now owns 8,157 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $526,000 after purchasing an additional 2,670 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.