Blue Trust Inc. Purchases 4,411 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 203.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,578 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 4,411 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Block were worth $424,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Block during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Block by 4.3% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 9,294 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Block by 9.4% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 5,606 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $474,000 after buying an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Block during the 1st quarter worth about $2,501,000. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in Block by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 26,447 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,237,000 after acquiring an additional 2,368 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,935 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.53, for a total value of $388,920.55. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 255,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,742,652.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,935 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.53, for a total value of $388,920.55. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 255,496 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,742,652.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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 value of $539,404.56. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 580,086 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,572,170.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,214 shares of company stock valued at $1,637,932 in the last quarter. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Block Trading Down 1.5 %

SQ opened at $72.82 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 2.49. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.85 and a 12 month high of $87.52. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.08.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SQ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Macquarie reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Friday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Block from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. William Blair raised Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.79.

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.