Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty-three research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $97.68.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SQ. BNP Paribas downgraded Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Block from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Oppenheimer upgraded Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Block from $87.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th.

Block Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $53.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.92, a PEG ratio of 0.79 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. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.13. Block has a 12-month low of $55.00 and a 12-month high of $99.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.43, for a total value of $609,015.23. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 246,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,580,192.81. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $80,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 88,791 shares in the company, valued at $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 have sold a total of 29,981 shares of company stock valued at $2,681,185 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 183.8% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 9,154 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 5,929 shares in the last quarter. Guerra Pan Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the fourth quarter valued at $211,000. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the fourth quarter valued at $3,775,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 18,150.0% during the fourth quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 7,300 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $620,000 after purchasing an additional 7,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nepsis Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block during the fourth quarter valued at $9,769,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.