Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirty analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, twenty-three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $90.56.

SQ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. William Blair upgraded shares of Block to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Macquarie reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Block from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday.

Block Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of SQ traded down $0.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $74.56. 24,843,731 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,031,937. The business's 50-day moving average price is $68.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.03. Block has a 1 year low of $50.86 and a 1 year high of $87.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.89, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 2.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,935 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.53, for a total value of $388,920.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 255,496 shares in the company, valued at $16,742,652.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,935 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.53, for a total value of $388,920.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 255,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,742,652.88. This represents 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 on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.77, for a total value of $539,404.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 580,086 shares in the company, valued at $37,572,170.22. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 25,214 shares of company stock worth $1,637,932. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SQ. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in Block by 45.7% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $650,396,000 after buying an additional 3,163,975 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 934,588 shares during the period. D1 Capital Partners L.P. grew its stake in Block by 76.7% during the 2nd quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 1,831,342 shares of the technology company's stock worth $118,103,000 after purchasing an additional 795,000 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Block by 1,061.0% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 657,667 shares of the technology company's stock worth $42,413,000 after purchasing an additional 601,020 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in Block by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,096,614 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,107,712,000 after purchasing an additional 582,826 shares in 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.