Block (NYSE:SQ) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Needham & Company LLC Analyst Says

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its price objective raised by Needham & Company LLC from $80.00 to $90.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Block from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.37.

Block Price Performance

Shares of SQ opened at $83.41 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.10, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 2.48. Block has a twelve month low of $50.86 and a twelve month high of $87.52.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total value of $33,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 90,460 shares in the company, valued at $6,060,820. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total transaction of $33,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 90,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,060,820. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.77, for a total transaction of $539,404.56. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 580,086 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,572,170.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,714 shares of company stock worth $1,606,992 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SQ. Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the first quarter worth $480,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of Block by 53.9% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 6,947 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $588,000 after acquiring an additional 2,432 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Block by 28.2% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 20,750 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,755,000 after acquiring an additional 4,561 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Block by 12.9% in the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 3,834 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden increased its position in shares of Block by 13.1% in the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 113,800 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $9,625,000 after acquiring an additional 13,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Company Profile

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.