Clearbridge Investments LLC Trims Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Clearbridge Investments LLC reduced its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,722,288 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 31,850 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 0.28% of Block worth $111,070,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bares Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Block by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,487,251 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $347,089,000 after purchasing an additional 87,826 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Block by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,799,505,000 after buying an additional 1,277,043 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC grew its holdings in Block by 13.9% during the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $494,672,000 after acquiring an additional 934,588 shares during the period. &PARTNERS lifted its holdings in Block by 8.3% in the first quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 8,641 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $731,000 after acquiring an additional 659 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in Block in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,184,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, June 24th. William Blair upgraded Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.34.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE SQ opened at $65.95 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $63.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 2.49. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. Block’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total value of $30,940.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,366 shares in the company, valued at $5,715,608.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related 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 value of $30,940.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,715,608.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 purchase, the director now owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,000,007.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 20,542 shares of company stock worth $1,343,635 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

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.