Calton & Associates Inc. Takes Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,036 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Block by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 10,618 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $898,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 2,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $195,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 25.4% during the 1st quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 765 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. CAP Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. CAP Partners LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $403,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,973 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $579,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. 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 dropped their price objective on shares of Block from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on shares of Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One equities 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total transaction of $30,940.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,366 shares in the company, valued at $5,715,608.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total transaction of $30,940.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,366 shares in the company, valued at $5,715,608.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available 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 transaction of $539,404.56. Following the sale, the insider now owns 580,086 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,572,170.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,214 shares of company stock worth $1,637,932. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Block Price Performance

Shares of SQ opened at $72.82 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $44.83 billion, a PE ratio of 56.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 2.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.08.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. The business 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%. The business’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.