Macquarie Raises Block (NYSE:SQ) Price Target to $110.00

Block (NYSE:SQ) had its target price lifted by Macquarie from $100.00 to $110.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on SQ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Block from $80.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Block from $87.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on shares of Block from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.21.

Block Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE SQ opened at $94.03 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.28 billion, a PE ratio of 52.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 2.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $79.49 and a 200-day moving average of $69.77. Block has a 52-week low of $55.00 and a 52-week high of $99.26.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total transaction of $33,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 90,460 shares in the company, valued at $6,060,820. The trade was a 0.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,935 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.53, for a total transaction of $388,920.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 255,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,742,652.88. The trade was a 2.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,918 shares of company stock valued at $2,666,147 over the last three months. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Block by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,651,886 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $110,891,000 after acquiring an additional 8,200 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its stake in Block by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,083,113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $72,709,000 after purchasing an additional 128,832 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in Block by 1.5% in 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. Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 934,588 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of Block by 2.7% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 541,204 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,969,000 after buying an additional 14,163 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.