Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Insider Owen Britton Jennings Sells 2,836 Shares

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.38, for a total transaction of $253,481.68. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 195,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,469,231.62. This trade represents a 1.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Block Stock Down 0.2 %

SQ opened at $92.01 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.69, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 2.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $87.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.48. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.00 and a twelve month high of $99.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Block in the third quarter worth $114,121,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Block by 770.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,738,708 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $116,719,000 after acquiring an additional 1,538,849 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its position in Block by 13.9% in the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $494,672,000 after purchasing an additional 934,588 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. grew its stake in shares of Block by 76.7% during the 2nd quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 1,831,342 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $118,103,000 after purchasing an additional 795,000 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Block by 1,061.0% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 657,667 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,413,000 after purchasing an additional 601,020 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Block from $87.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on Block from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised shares of Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Block from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.77.

About Block

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.