Brighton Jones LLC Grows Stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 189.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,002 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,587 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $452,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in Block during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Tidemark LLC purchased a new position in Block during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Vima LLC bought a new position in Block in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Macquarie reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.34.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were 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 is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $121,594.93. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 590,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,027,285.57. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 264,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,125,895.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over 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 company insiders.

Block Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE SQ opened at $67.46 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.85 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. The company has a market capitalization of $41.63 billion, a PE ratio of 87.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.49. The company has a fifty day moving average of $64.24 and a 200 day moving average of $69.01.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

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.