Block (NYSE:SQ) Trading Down 5.1%

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ - Get Free Report)'s share price was down 5.1% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $67.82 and last traded at $67.89. Approximately 1,239,376 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 9,677,326 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.51.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SQ has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Block from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, BTIG Research raised shares of Block from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $87.59.

Block Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $41.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.20, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 2.57. The business's fifty day moving average price is $76.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64.

Block (NYSE:SQ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.04%. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.69 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.29 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,796,849.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 4,170 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.84, for a total value of $328,762.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 193,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,231,257.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 346,432 shares of company stock valued at $26,390,936 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Block

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SQ. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Block in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $528,996,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in Block by 3,525.7% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $459,072,000 after acquiring an additional 5,771,310 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in Block during the third quarter valued at approximately $172,001,000. Trivest Advisors Ltd purchased a new position in Block during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $157,021,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Block by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,799,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277,043 shares in the last quarter. 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.