IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd Purchases 2,247 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 27.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,387 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,247 shares during the period. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd’s holdings in Block were worth $697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SQ. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Block in the fourth quarter worth $312,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the fourth quarter worth about $254,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Block by 17.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Block during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital grew its position in Block by 32.0% during the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 3,889 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $311,000 after acquiring an additional 943 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SQ has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Block from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. New Street Research initiated coverage on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Monday, June 24th. One 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.79.

Block Trading Up 0.2 %

Block stock opened at $73.71 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.85 and a 12 month high of $87.52. The company has a market capitalization of $45.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 2.49. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.27 billion. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. Block’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Block news, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the purchase, the director now owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the purchase, the director now owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,935 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.53, for a total transaction of $388,920.55. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 255,496 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,742,652.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,214 shares of company stock worth $1,637,932 over the last 90 days. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.