Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Shares Sold by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Clearbridge Investments LLC trimmed its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 1.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,722,288 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 31,850 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $111,070,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Block by 49.0% in the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 7,930 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,607 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Block by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 135,089 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,449,000 after buying an additional 21,154 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Block during the 4th quarter worth about $4,888,000. Eisler Capital UK Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth about $365,000. Finally, Capital International Ltd. CA increased its holdings in shares of Block by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Ltd. CA now owns 47,020 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,637,000 after acquiring an additional 1,627 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Down 1.8 %

Block stock opened at $65.95 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $63.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.25. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.85 and a 1-year high of $87.52. The company has a market cap of $40.60 billion, a PE ratio of 85.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 2.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.82.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The company had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SQ shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, New Street Research started coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, September 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.34.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Roelof Botha acquired 434,405 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Block news, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.77, for a total transaction of $539,404.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 580,086 shares in the company, valued at $37,572,170.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,542 shares of company stock worth $1,343,635 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

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.