Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Shares Sold by XTX Topco Ltd

XTX Topco Ltd trimmed its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 49.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,038 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,987 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd’s holdings in Block were worth $260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in shares of Block by 45.7% during the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $650,396,000 after acquiring an additional 3,163,975 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Block by 70.0% during the 4th quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,606,269 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $510,995,000 after acquiring an additional 2,720,123 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Block by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,799,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277,043 shares in the last quarter. Gladstone Capital Management LLP raised its position in shares of Block by 244.1% during the 4th quarter. Gladstone Capital Management LLP now owns 1,706,691 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,013,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Block by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,096,614 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,107,712,000 after acquiring an additional 582,826 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Block Stock Up 0.7 %

SQ opened at $66.97 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52. The business has a 50-day moving average of $63.88 and a 200-day moving average of $68.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.82. The company has a market capitalization of $41.23 billion, a PE ratio of 86.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 2.49.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SQ has been the topic of several research reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Block from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.34.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $30,318.27. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of Block 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 $30,318.27. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total value of $430,966.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 264,697 shares in the company, valued at $17,125,895.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,179 shares of company stock valued at $1,833,962. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

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.