Oppenheimer Upgrades Block (NYSE:SQ) to “Outperform”

Block (NYSE:SQ) was upgraded by investment analysts at Oppenheimer from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $115.00 price objective on the technology company’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 28.28% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on SQ. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, October 21st. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Monday, November 11th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $94.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.33.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of SQ stock opened at $89.65 on Thursday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $84.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.39. Block has a 52 week low of $55.00 and a 52 week high of $99.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.57 billion, a PE ratio of 50.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 2.50.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,865 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $272,175.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 85,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,097,325. This represents a 3.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.18, for a total transaction of $759,347.04. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 563,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,415,854.92. This represents a 1.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,918 shares of company stock valued at $2,666,147. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in Block by 1.5% during 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Block by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,690,075 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $581,923,000 after purchasing an additional 133,002 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Block by 13.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Block by 2.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,202,388 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $147,846,000 after buying an additional 45,472 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Block by 17.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,157,733 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $139,143,000 after buying an additional 326,444 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.