Allworth Financial LP Boosts Stock Holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,841 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 197 shares during the quarter. Allworth Financial LP’s holdings in Block were worth $191,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SQ. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the third quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Block in the second quarter worth $49,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on SQ shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Block from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. New Street Research began coverage on shares of Block in a report on Monday, September 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Macquarie reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, July 26th. William Blair raised Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.79.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total transaction of $30,940.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,715,608.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the business’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,715,608.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Roelof Botha acquired 434,405 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 25,214 shares of company stock worth $1,637,932. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Price Performance

SQ opened at $73.31 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.24 billion, a PE ratio of 95.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.49. The business’s 50-day moving average is $67.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.92. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.88 and a 1 year high of $87.52. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. Block’s revenue for the quarter 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.

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.