Block (NYSE:SQ) Stock Price Down 2%

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 2% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $65.52 and last traded at $65.57. 1,408,623 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 8,759,096 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.88.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Block from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, William Blair raised Block to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $86.20.

Block Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $40.03 billion, a PE ratio of 84.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 2.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $63.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.93.

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. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,866 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $30,318.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,866 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,784 shares of company stock valued at $772,623 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,511,250 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,088,122,000 after purchasing an additional 318,549 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 4.7% during 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 during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 45.7% during the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $650,396,000 after purchasing an additional 3,163,975 shares during the last quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 8,982,862 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $694,735,000 after purchasing an additional 71,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 13.9% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. 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.