New Century Financial Group LLC Boosts Stock Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

New Century Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 28.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,026 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,769 shares during the period. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $1,098,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in Block during the first quarter valued at $28,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Vima LLC bought a new position in Block in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Block in the 1st quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SQ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Block from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.34.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $175,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 92,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,443,360. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $175,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 92,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,443,360. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total transaction of $30,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,366 shares in the company, valued at $5,715,608.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,542 shares of company stock worth $1,343,635 in the last three months. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of SQ stock opened at $67.12 on Tuesday. 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 1 year low of $38.85 and a 1 year high of $87.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 2.49. The business has a fifty day moving average of $63.86 and a 200 day moving average of $68.35.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.27 billion. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Block Profile

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.