CNB Bank Lowers Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

CNB Bank lessened its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 28.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 746 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. CNB Bank’s holdings in Block were worth $58,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SQ. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in Block by 3,525.7% in the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $459,072,000 after purchasing an additional 5,771,310 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth $353,954,000. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter worth $172,001,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its stake in shares of Block by 72.8% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 2,683,346 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $118,765,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,925 shares during the period. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Block by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 11,887,628 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $919,508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,514 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at $5,790,374.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total value of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total value of $42,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 363,801 shares of company stock worth $27,284,175. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Block Trading Down 2.3 %

SQ traded down $1.64 on Friday, hitting $70.42. 7,071,572 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,380,691. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.85 and a 12 month high of $87.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.36 billion, a PE ratio of 423.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 2.55.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. Block had a return on equity of 0.63% and a net margin of 0.04%. Sell-side analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial increased their price target on Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Benchmark increased their price objective on Block from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.22.

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.