EP Wealth Advisors LLC Takes $312,000 Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,038 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $312,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Block by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,915,658 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,545,367,000 after purchasing an additional 585,801 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Block by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,513,788 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $967,942,000 after acquiring an additional 212,218 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its position in Block by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 11,887,628 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $919,508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,514 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its position in Block by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 10,377,973 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $802,736,000 after acquiring an additional 75,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its position in Block by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 8,982,862 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $694,735,000 after acquiring an additional 71,735 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on SQ shares. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Wolfe Research upped their price target on Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price target (down previously from $62.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Block from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.59.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total value of $42,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,790,374.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,790,374.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 4,170 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.84, for a total value of $328,762.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,231,257.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 247,739 shares of company stock valued at $18,584,747 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of Block stock opened at $61.90 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $38.19 billion, a PE ratio of 80.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 2.54. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.85 and a 52 week high of $87.52. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $69.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.75 billion. Block had a return on equity of 2.04% and a net margin of 2.18%. Equities analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.