First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Buys 919 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,732 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 919 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Block were worth $586,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Block in the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $49,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:SQ opened at $72.15 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $68.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.90. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $42.78 and a one year high of $87.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.42 billion, a PE ratio of 56.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.48.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.27 billion. During the same period 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. New Street Research assumed 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target 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 equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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