Equities Analysts Issue Forecasts for Block, Inc.’s Q1 2024 Earnings (NYSE:SQ)

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) – Equities research analysts at Seaport Res Ptn lifted their Q1 2024 EPS estimates for Block in a research note issued to investors on Monday, April 15th. Seaport Res Ptn analyst J. Cantwell now forecasts that the technology company will post earnings of ($0.05) per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of ($0.06). Seaport Res Ptn has a “Buy” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Block’s current full-year earnings is $1.02 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Block’s Q2 2024 earnings at ($0.06) EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $0.07 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $0.27 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.25 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.32 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.42 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.64 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $1.63 EPS.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. Block had a net margin of 0.04% and a return on equity of 0.63%.

SQ has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Block from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $60.00 target price (down from $62.00) on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Block from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.41.

Block Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:SQ traded up $0.37 on Wednesday, hitting $73.51. The stock had a trading volume of 5,907,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,110,968. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market cap of $45.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 432.35, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 2.55. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $76.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.75. Block has a 1-year low of $38.85 and a 1-year high of $87.52.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SQ. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 4th quarter valued at about $528,996,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Block by 3,525.7% in the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $459,072,000 after purchasing an additional 5,771,310 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter valued at about $172,001,000. Trivest Advisors Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 4th quarter valued at about $157,021,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Block by 113.6% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 3,287,751 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $253,534,000 after purchasing an additional 1,748,508 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $42,180.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,823 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,425,318.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total value of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total transaction of $42,180.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,425,318.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 363,801 shares of company stock worth $27,284,175 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Block Company Profile

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.