Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Shares Acquired by Quarry LP

Quarry LP boosted its position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 713.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,537 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,348 shares during the period. Quarry LP’s holdings in Block were worth $99,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Block by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 8,407 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $542,000 after buying an additional 753 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the second quarter valued at $483,000. SIH Partners LLLP boosted its position in shares of Block by 68.6% during the 2nd quarter. SIH Partners LLLP now owns 337,149 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $21,743,000 after purchasing an additional 137,129 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Block by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 43,465 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,791,000 after purchasing an additional 1,774 shares during the period. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $600,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE SQ opened at $65.95 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.60 billion, a PE ratio of 85.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 2.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $63.84 and a 200-day moving average of $68.25. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate 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 the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 264,697 shares in the company, valued at $17,125,895.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 264,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,125,895.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.77, for a total value of $539,404.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 580,086 shares in the company, valued at $37,572,170.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,542 shares of company stock valued at $1,343,635. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SQ has been the subject of a number of research reports. William Blair raised Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Block in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. New Street Research initiated coverage on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.34.

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.