J. Stern & Co. LLP Buys 13,325 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 427.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,445 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,325 shares during the quarter. Block makes up approximately 0.1% of J. Stern & Co. LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. J. Stern & Co. LLP’s holdings in Block were worth $1,061,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. D1 Capital Partners L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Block by 76.7% in the second quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 1,831,342 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $118,103,000 after acquiring an additional 795,000 shares during the period. Deepwater Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Block by 11.1% in the 2nd quarter. Deepwater Asset Management LLC now owns 217,916 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,053,000 after purchasing an additional 21,727 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $238,000. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Block by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,557 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Block by 16.7% during the second quarter. Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,994 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $838,000 after buying an additional 1,859 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Trading Down 1.7 %

SQ opened at $67.46 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $64.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.96. The company has a market capitalization of $41.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.61, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.49. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.85 and a 52 week high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $30,318.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,147 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.57, for a total transaction of $76,355.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 271,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,066,698.58. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $30,318.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,977,784.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 28,179 shares of company stock valued at $1,833,962. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. William Blair raised shares of Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.34.

Block Company 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.