Block (NYSE:SQ) Now Covered by Oppenheimer

Analysts at Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) in a report released on Tuesday, StockNewsAPI reports. The brokerage set a “market perform” rating on the technology company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. William Blair upgraded Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group decreased their price target on Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.34.

Block Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Block stock opened at $67.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.17, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 2.49. Block has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $63.86 and a 200 day moving average of $68.35.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total transaction of $430,966.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 264,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,125,895.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Roelof Botha acquired 434,405 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,007.75. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total transaction of $430,966.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 264,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,125,895.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,542 shares of company stock valued at $1,343,635 over the last quarter. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of Block by 45.7% during 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 during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Block by 70.0% during the 4th quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,606,269 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $510,995,000 after acquiring an additional 2,720,123 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Block by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,799,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277,043 shares during the period. Gladstone Capital Management LLP lifted its position in shares of Block by 244.1% during the 4th quarter. Gladstone Capital Management LLP now owns 1,706,691 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,013,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210,758 shares during the period. Finally, D1 Capital Partners L.P. lifted its position in shares of Block by 76.7% during the 2nd quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 1,831,342 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $118,103,000 after acquiring an additional 795,000 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.