Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Block (NYSE:SQ)

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors acquired 70,642 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 28% compared to the typical daily volume of 55,015 call options.

Block Price Performance

SQ stock opened at $70.02 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $64.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.73. The stock has a market cap of $43.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.70, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 2.49.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The company had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Block will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total value of $30,940.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,715,608.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $175,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 92,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,443,360. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total value of $30,940.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,715,608.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 27,714 shares of company stock worth $1,812,932. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its holdings in Block by 1.3% during the first quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 10,618 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $898,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Financial Perspectives Inc grew its holdings in Block by 7.2% during the first quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 2,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $195,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in Block by 25.4% during the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 765 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. CAP Partners LLC grew its holdings in Block by 3.5% during the first quarter. CAP Partners LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $403,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Block by 17.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SQ. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Block from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer started coverage on Block in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.31.

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.