Block (NYSE:SQ) Issues Earnings Results

Block (NYSE:SQ – Get Rating) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The technology company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $4.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.33 billion. Block had a negative net margin of 3.00% and a negative return on equity of 3.23%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS.

Block Price Performance

Shares of SQ opened at $87.73 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $71.37 and a 200 day moving average of $96.86. Block has a 52-week low of $56.01 and a 52-week high of $286.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.97.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SQ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Block from $126.00 to $117.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 20th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Block from $182.00 to $150.00 in a report on Monday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Block from $118.00 to $110.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 19th. Macquarie cut shares of Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $140.00 to $64.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 19th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of Block from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirty-five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $156.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 883 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.63, for a total value of $55,302.29. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 48,797 shares in the company, valued at $3,056,156.11. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Alyssa Henry sold 30,769 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.88, for a total transaction of $2,519,365.72. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 428,058 shares in the company, valued at $35,049,389.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 883 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.63, for a total value of $55,302.29. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 48,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,056,156.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 352,686 shares of company stock worth $25,461,055 over the last three months. 11.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in Block stock. Eudaimonia Partners LLC bought a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ – Get Rating) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,852 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $387,000. Institutional investors own 54.56% of the company’s stock.

Block Company Profile

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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.