Block (NYSE:SQ) Shares Up 2.5%

Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ - Get Free Report) rose 2.5% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $65.58 and last traded at $65.41. Approximately 1,177,085 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 8,691,592 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.84.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SQ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Macquarie restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $86.59.

Block Trading Up 2.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $63.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.23 billion, a PE ratio of 84.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $30,318.27. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $30,318.27. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.77, for a total transaction of $539,404.56. Following the sale, the insider now owns 580,086 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,572,170.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 28,179 shares of company stock valued at $1,833,962. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SQ. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its stake in Block by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 10,618 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $898,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Financial Perspectives Inc lifted its stake in Block by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 2,300 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $195,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Block by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 765 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Block by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,831 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $409,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, CAP Partners LLC lifted its stake in Block by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. CAP Partners LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $403,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.