Block (NYSE:SQ) Earns Sell Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Block (NYSE:SQ – Get Rating) in a research report report published on Thursday. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on SQ. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Block from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Monday, January 23rd. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Block from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Monday, February 27th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Block from $135.00 to $90.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 21st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a buy rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday, November 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Block from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $107.62.

Block Price Performance

NYSE:SQ opened at $73.98 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $76.88 and a 200-day moving average of $67.52. Block has a one year low of $51.34 and a one year high of $149.00.

Block (NYSE:SQ – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The technology company reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by ($0.07). Block had a negative return on equity of 2.28% and a negative net margin of 3.11%. The business had revenue of $4.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Block will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, insider Alyssa Henry sold 30,769 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.49, for a total value of $1,830,447.81. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 422,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,141,485.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Alyssa Henry sold 30,769 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.49, for a total value of $1,830,447.81. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 422,617 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,141,485.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 19,750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.05, for a total transaction of $1,738,987.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 138,152 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,164,283.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 272,592 shares of company stock valued at $20,272,270 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SQ. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Block by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 33,781,540 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,857,647,000 after buying an additional 1,236,425 shares during the period. Sands Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Block by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 16,450,950 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,011,075,000 after buying an additional 1,179,222 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Block by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 12,702,025 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $780,667,000 after buying an additional 686,870 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Block by 148.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,359,972 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $713,861,000 after buying an additional 6,791,842 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Block by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 8,490,470 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $533,541,000 after buying an additional 132,504 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 59.49% of the company’s stock.

About Block

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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.