Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Block (NYSE:SQ)

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors purchased 130,133 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 58% compared to the average daily volume of 82,335 call options.

Block Stock Performance

SQ stock opened at $92.16 on Friday. Block has a 12-month low of $55.00 and a 12-month high of $99.26. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.12 billion, a PE ratio of 51.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 2.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,865 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $272,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 85,235 shares in the company, valued at $8,097,325. This trade represents a 3.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $80,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 88,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,103,280. This trade represents a 1.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,599 shares of company stock worth $2,120,494 in the last quarter. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Swiss National Bank increased its position in shares of Block by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,651,886 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,891,000 after purchasing an additional 8,200 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its holdings in Block by 13.5% during 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 last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings 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 last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Block by 6.2% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 253,787 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,037,000 after acquiring an additional 14,822 shares during the period. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SQ has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $94.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. BNP Paribas cut shares of Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Block from $87.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. One research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Block has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.94.

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.