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.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Block from $155.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 4th. Macquarie lowered shares of Block from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $140.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 19th. Cowen cut their target price on shares of Block from $188.00 to $148.00 in a research report on Friday, May 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price target on shares of Block from $210.00 to $150.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 19th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price objective on Block from $160.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and thirty-five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Block currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $152.34.
Block Stock Down 0.8 %
Block stock opened at $79.72 on Friday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $71.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $94.82. Block has a twelve month low of $56.01 and a twelve month high of $276.14. The stock has a market cap of $46.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -87.60 and a beta of 2.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.
Block (NYSE:SQ - Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 4th. The technology company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.17 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.33 billion. Block had a negative return on equity of 2.52% and a negative net margin of 3.00%. Block's revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Block will post -0.72 EPS for the current year.
Insider Activity at Block
In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 8,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.13, for a total transaction of $716,496.90. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 151,829 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,380,689.77. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Alyssa Henry sold 30,770 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.79, for a total transaction of $2,639,758.30. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 433,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,193,653.97. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 8,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.13, for a total transaction of $716,496.90. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 151,829 shares in the company, valued at $13,380,689.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 330,045 shares of company stock worth $23,775,559 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.52% of the company's stock.
