Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Decreases Stock Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lessened its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 70.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,124 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 31,791 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $881,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in Block by 272.1% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 4,249 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 3,107 shares during the last quarter. Profit Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Block by 34.6% in the 3rd quarter. Profit Investment Management LLC now owns 12,337 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $828,000 after buying an additional 3,173 shares during the last quarter. Tobam raised its position in shares of Block by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tobam now owns 3,988 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,316 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its position in Block by 7.0% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 16,670 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,119,000 after acquiring an additional 1,090 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Block Price Performance

SQ opened at $73.71 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.38 billion, a PE ratio of 57.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 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. The business’s 50-day moving average is $66.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.34. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.85 and a 1 year high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Block from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer started coverage on Block in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, New Street Research initiated coverage on shares of Block in a report on Monday, September 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. One research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.79.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,007.75. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of Block stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 580,086 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,572,170.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,007.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 25,214 shares of company stock valued at $1,637,932. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

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.