Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 6.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,756,991 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 620,982 shares during the period. Block makes up 0.6% of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned 1.58% of Block worth $825,246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 17.7% during the third quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 7,381 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the third quarter valued at about $8,366,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 3.7% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,788 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 387 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Block by 6.4% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 18,111 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $802,000 after acquiring an additional 1,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Block by 15.6% during the third quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 4,934 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SQ traded up $0.39 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $64.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 602,854 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,102,932. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.87, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 2.52. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 603,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,796,849.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $483,712.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,158,456.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 126,889 shares of company stock valued at $8,621,539. 10.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SQ shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Block from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target (down from $62.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Block from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.13.

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.