Southland Equity Partners LLC Takes $206,000 Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Southland Equity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 2,436 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Montag A & Associates Inc. grew its stake in Block by 843.2% in the fourth quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 349 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Tidemark LLC purchased a new position in Block in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Vima LLC purchased a new position in Block in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in Block in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Block in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:SQ opened at $64.40 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.74 billion, a PE ratio of 83.64, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 2.54. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.85 and a 12-month high of $87.52. The business has a 50 day moving average of $68.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.73. 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 (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.75 billion. Block had a return on equity of 2.04% and a net margin of 2.18%. As a group, analysts forecast 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total value of $7,679,410.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares in the company, valued at $40,796,849.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares in the company, valued at $40,796,849.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $483,712.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 282,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,158,456.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 247,739 shares of company stock worth $18,584,747 over the last three months. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SQ has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen raised their price target on Block from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.13.

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.