CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp Increases Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp increased its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 36.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 36,433 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,807 shares during the quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Block were worth $3,096,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SQ. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the third quarter valued at about $114,121,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Block by 770.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,738,708 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $116,719,000 after acquiring an additional 1,538,849 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its stake in Block by 13.9% in the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $494,672,000 after acquiring an additional 934,588 shares in the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. grew its holdings in Block by 76.7% in the second quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 1,831,342 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $118,103,000 after purchasing an additional 795,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Block by 1,061.0% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 657,667 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,413,000 after purchasing an additional 601,020 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Block Trading Up 2.9 %

SQ stock opened at $84.83 on Thursday. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.00 and a 12-month high of $99.26. The business’s 50-day moving average is $88.99 and its 200 day moving average is $74.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $52.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.66, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 2.51.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SQ. Barclays raised their price objective on Block from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Oppenheimer upgraded Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Block from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Macquarie upped their price target on shares of Block from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.35.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $80,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 88,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,103,280. This trade represents a 1.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.38, for a total transaction of $253,481.68. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 195,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,469,231.62. This represents a 1.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,981 shares of company stock valued at $2,681,185 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

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.