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. The company also provides Square Point of Sale software; Cash App, which provides access to the financial system, allowing customers to electronically send, store, and spend money; Caviar, a food ordering platform for restaurants to offer food ordering, pickup and delivery, to their customers; and Square Capital that facilitates loans to sellers based on real-time payment and point-of-sale data. Square, Inc. was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Cowen cut their price objective on Block from $188.00 to $148.00 in a research report on Friday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Block from $150.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, July 11th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Block from $120.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 20th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their target price on shares of Block from $200.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Friday, May 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Block from $155.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and thirty-five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $152.34.
Block Stock Up 2.3 %
NYSE:SQ traded up $1.96 during trading on Friday, hitting $87.95. The stock had a trading volume of 10,433,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,595,944. Block has a 12 month low of $56.01 and a 12 month high of $276.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 1.80. The company's 50-day moving average price is $71.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.63. The company has a market capitalization of $51.02 billion, a PE ratio of -96.65 and a beta of 2.45.
Block (NYSE:SQ - Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 4th. The technology company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.01. Block had a negative net margin of 3.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.52%. The business had revenue of $4.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Block will post -0.72 EPS for the current year.
Insider Transactions at Block
In related news, insider Alyssa Henry sold 30,770 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.44, for a total value of $2,352,058.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 433,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $33,140,026.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Block news, insider Alyssa Henry sold 30,770 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.44, for a total value of $2,352,058.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 433,543 shares in the company, valued at $33,140,026.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 8,130 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.13, for a total value of $716,496.90. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 151,829 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,380,689.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 360,815 shares of company stock worth $26,341,162 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.52% of the company's stock.