Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Purchases 1,603 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 2.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,947 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,603 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Block were worth $3,737,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Block by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,739 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its holdings in Block by 37.6% in the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 4,833 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,321 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 17.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,157,733 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $139,143,000 after purchasing an additional 326,444 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 2.4% during the second quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,377 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in shares of Block by 54.5% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 14,168 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $914,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SQ. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.34.

Block Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE:SQ opened at $67.46 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a one year low of $38.85 and a one year high of $87.52. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $64.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.49. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The business 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 business posted $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total transaction of $430,966.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 264,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,125,895.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $121,594.93. Following the sale, the insider now owns 590,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,027,285.57. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total value of $430,966.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 264,697 shares in the company, valued at $17,125,895.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,179 shares of company stock valued at $1,833,962. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.