Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $17.22 Million Stock Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC trimmed its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 10.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 267,008 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 31,614 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $17,219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 58.1% in the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $399,000 after acquiring an additional 2,275 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Block by 6.0% during the second quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 7,010 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Block by 40.6% in the second quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,529 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $937,000 after buying an additional 4,199 shares in the last quarter. Tobam increased its stake in shares of Block by 130.1% in the second quarter. Tobam now owns 3,468 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 1,961 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Block by 137.0% in the second quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 8,140 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 4,705 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Block

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $121,594.93. Following the sale, the insider now owns 590,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,027,285.57. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total transaction of $430,966.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 264,697 shares in the company, valued at $17,125,895.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $121,594.93. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 590,761 shares in the company, valued at $38,027,285.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962 in the last three months. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SQ has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. William Blair upgraded Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.52.

Block Stock Down 2.8 %

NYSE:SQ opened at $64.20 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $39.52 billion, a PE ratio of 83.38, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 2.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS 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.