Shares of Square, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the thirty-three brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have issued a hold recommendation, nineteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.60.
Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Jaffray Companies restated a “hold” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of Square in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Deutsche Bank AG upped their price objective on shares of Square to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Square from $24.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Craig Hallum restated a “hold” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up previously from $18.00) on shares of Square in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (up previously from $20.00) on shares of Square in a research note on Thursday.
Shares of Square (NYSE:SQ) traded down 0.4607% during trading on Tuesday, reaching $25.1038. The company had a trading volume of 5,819,595 shares. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $24.96 and a 200 day moving average of $19.56. The firm’s market capitalization is $9.45 billion. Square has a 1-year low of $10.01 and a 1-year high of $27.97. Square also saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 15,478 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 273% compared to the typical volume of 4,147 call options.
Square (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 2nd. The technology company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.01. Square had a negative net margin of 4.13% and a negative return on equity of 13.13%. The company had revenue of $240 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $228.64 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.08) earnings per share. Square’s revenue for the quarter was up 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Square will post $0.17 earnings per share for the current year.
In other Square news, CEO Jack Dorsey sold 381,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.42, for a total value of $7,790,230.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Sarah Friar sold 38,400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.39, for a total transaction of $1,013,376.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 368,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,732,394.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 914,900 shares of company stock valued at $20,202,610. 32.68% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Square by 22.7% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,883 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 1,090 shares during the period. Glassman Wealth Services boosted its position in shares of Square by 1,987.3% in the first quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 6,575 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $114,000 after buying an additional 6,260 shares during the period. Old Mutual Global Investors UK Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Square during the first quarter worth about $131,000. Concert Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Square during the first quarter worth about $144,000. Finally, FNY Partners Fund LP boosted its position in shares of Square by 55.4% in the first quarter. FNY Partners Fund LP now owns 10,100 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $174,000 after buying an additional 3,600 shares during the period. 75.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
COPYRIGHT VIOLATION WARNING: “Brokerages Set Square, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Target Price at $21.57” was published by StockNewsTimes and is the sole property of of StockNewsTimes. If you are viewing this news story on another site, it was stolen and reposted in violation of United States & international trademark & copyright legislation. The original version of this news story can be read at https://stocknewstimes.com/2017/08/04/brokerages-set-square-inc-nysesq-target-price-at-21-57.html.
About Square
Square, Inc (Square) is a commerce ecosystem. The Company enables its sellers start, run and grow their businesses. It combines software with hardware to enable sellers to turn mobile devices and computing devices into payments and point-of-sale solutions. Once a seller downloads the Square Point of Sale mobile application, they can take their first payment.
Receive News & Ratings for Square Inc. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Square Inc. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
