Square (SQ) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Buckingham Research

Analysts at Buckingham Research initiated coverage on shares of Square (NYSE:SQ) in a note issued to investors on Thursday. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Buckingham Research’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 9.29% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on SQ. Zacks Investment Research cut shares of Square from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 26th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Square from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Square in a report on Sunday, October 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Square from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 9th. Finally, Vetr cut shares of Square from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $43.40 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, November 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-five have issued a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $34.66.

Shares of Square (SQ) traded up $1.12 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $38.43. 5,346,225 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,422,699. The firm has a market capitalization of $14,910.00 and a PE ratio of -226.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 1.81. Square has a 52-week low of $13.73 and a 52-week high of $49.56.

Square (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 8th. The technology company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $257.12 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $244.95 million. Square had a negative net margin of 3.04% and a negative return on equity of 7.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 44.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.01 earnings per share. analysts forecast that Square will post -0.15 EPS for the current year.

In other news, insider Hillary B. Smith sold 1,551 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.12, for a total value of $54,471.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 487,482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,120,367.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jack Dorsey sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.16, for a total transaction of $1,808,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,668,081 shares of company stock worth $61,992,018. 32.68% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SQ. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its holdings in Square by 1.3% during the second quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 15,193 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $357,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in Square by 2.1% during the second quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 10,212 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the last quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Square by 1.1% during the second quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,166 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,084,000 after buying an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Square by 8.5% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,706 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 921 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Square by 19.4% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 6,752 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $158,000 after buying an additional 1,099 shares during the last quarter. 54.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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.

Analyst Recommendations for Square (NYSE:SQ)