Vima LLC Purchases New Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Vima LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 440 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Block by 1.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,915,658 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,545,367,000 after acquiring an additional 585,801 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Block by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,513,788 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $967,942,000 after acquiring an additional 212,218 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Block by 9.2% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Block by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 10,377,973 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $802,736,000 after acquiring an additional 75,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its stake in shares of Block by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 8,982,862 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $694,735,000 after acquiring an additional 71,735 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 111,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.73, for a total transaction of $9,238,128.18. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 485,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,177,410.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,790,374.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 111,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.73, for a total transaction of $9,238,128.18. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 485,645 shares in the company, valued at $40,177,410.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 247,739 shares of company stock valued at $18,584,747. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on SQ shares. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Block from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.59.

Block Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of SQ stock traded down $0.21 during trading on Friday, reaching $62.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,916,673 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,343,522. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $70.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $38.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 2.54. Block, Inc. has a one year low of $38.85 and a one year high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.75 billion. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.04%. Analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current year.

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.