Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Acquires 106,893 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 16.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 775,835 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 106,893 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned approximately 0.13% of Block worth $65,512,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Bares Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Block by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,487,251 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $347,089,000 after buying an additional 87,826 shares during the last quarter. Trivest Advisors Ltd bought a new position in shares of Block during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $157,021,000. IFG Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the fourth quarter valued at $213,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Block by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,799,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, &PARTNERS increased its position in Block by 8.3% in the first quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 8,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $731,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on SQ shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Block from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $91,070.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 93,337 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,651,194.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 282,886 shares in the company, valued at $20,158,456.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $91,070.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 93,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,651,194.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 138,173 shares of company stock valued at $9,363,222. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Block Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:SQ traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $68.10. 5,161,385 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,055,199. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.02 billion, a PE ratio of 88.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 2.52. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.85 and a 12-month high of $87.52. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $66.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.60.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.32. Block had a return on equity of 2.04% and a net margin of 2.18%. The firm had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.75 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.