915 Shares in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Bought by Northwest Investment Counselors LLC

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 915 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of SQ. Lbmc Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Block during the 1st quarter valued at $384,000. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Block during the 1st quarter valued at $203,000. City Holding Co. raised its stake in Block by 35.0% during the 1st quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 2,171 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $184,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in Block by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 5,606 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $474,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, &PARTNERS raised its stake in Block by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 8,641 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $731,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on SQ. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Block from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Monday. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.13.

Block Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE SQ opened at $64.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.74 billion, a PE ratio of 83.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 2.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.85 and a 1 year high of $87.52. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $68.41 and its 200-day moving average is $71.73.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.75 billion. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.04%. Equities analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total value of $7,679,410.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 603,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total value of $7,679,410.08. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at $5,790,374.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 247,739 shares of company stock valued at $18,584,747. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Block 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.