V Square Quantitative Management LLC Takes Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 689 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SQ. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Block by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,511,250 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,088,122,000 after buying an additional 318,549 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Block by 4.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,096,614 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,107,712,000 after acquiring an additional 582,826 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in shares of Block by 45.7% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $650,396,000 after purchasing an additional 3,163,975 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Block by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $494,672,000 after purchasing an additional 934,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Block by 17.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,157,733 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $139,143,000 after purchasing an additional 326,444 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of SQ stock opened at $74.66 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.85 and a 12-month high of $87.52. The company has a market cap of $46.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 2.49. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.12.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The company had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. Block’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,715,608.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,715,608.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the transaction, the director now owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 25,214 shares of company stock worth $1,637,932 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Block from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Block in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. One 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.79.

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.