Block’s (SQ) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at William Blair

William Blair reissued their outperform rating on shares of Block (NYSE:SQ) in a report issued on Friday morning,RTT News reports.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on SQ. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Block from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Macquarie reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer began coverage on Block in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.30.

Block Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of SQ traded up $0.88 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $84.30. The company had a trading volume of 6,915,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,144,916. Block has a 1-year low of $55.00 and a 1-year high of $90.00. The stock has a market cap of $51.90 billion, a PE ratio of 47.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 2.48. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,406 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total value of $90,968.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 90,960 shares in the company, valued at $5,885,112. This represents a 1.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,964 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $237,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 88,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,088,560. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,678 shares of company stock worth $1,924,112 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 0.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,511,250 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,088,122,000 after acquiring an additional 318,549 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Block by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,096,614 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,107,712,000 after purchasing an additional 582,826 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in Block by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,233,102 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $686,948,000 after purchasing an additional 147,873 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Block by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,690,075 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $581,923,000 after purchasing an additional 133,002 shares during the period. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Block by 13.9% in the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $494,672,000 after buying an additional 934,588 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.