Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 121,047 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,167,292 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 121,047 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.35% of Block worth $167,640,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Block by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 1,222,600 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $54,112,000 after purchasing an additional 115,132 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Block in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Block by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,373,857 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $60,807,000 after purchasing an additional 190,400 shares during the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $359,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Block by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 5,860 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $453,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SQ opened at $73.20 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a market cap of $45.07 billion, a PE ratio of 95.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 2.57. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $77.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.78.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.07%. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $42,180.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,823 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,425,318.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total transaction of $42,180.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,425,318.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 2,581 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total transaction of $165,958.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 201,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,972,782.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 477,469 shares of company stock worth $34,963,585. Company insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on SQ. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Block from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.55.

Block Company 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.