UBS Group Trims Block (NYSE:SQ) Target Price to $92.00

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its price target cut by UBS Group from $100.00 to $92.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on SQ. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a neutral rating on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna restated a positive rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Block has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $87.52.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE SQ opened at $66.40 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. Block has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $87.52. The company has a fifty day moving average of $64.13 and a 200-day moving average of $69.83.

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

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Block news, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $121,594.93. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 590,761 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,027,285.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 28,179 shares of company stock valued at $1,833,962. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth about $528,996,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in shares of Block by 45.7% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $650,396,000 after buying an additional 3,163,975 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 70.0% in the fourth quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,606,269 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $510,995,000 after buying an additional 2,720,123 shares during the period. Trivest Advisors Ltd bought a new position in Block during the fourth quarter valued at about $157,021,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Block by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,799,505,000 after buying an additional 1,277,043 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.