EMC Capital Management Acquires 6,932 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

EMC Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 256.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,632 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,932 shares during the quarter. EMC Capital Management’s holdings in Block were worth $647,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Block during the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter worth approximately $44,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Block during the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the second quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the transaction, the director now owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Block news, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.77, for a total value of $539,404.56. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 580,086 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,572,170.22. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,214 shares of company stock worth $1,637,932 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Price Performance

NYSE SQ opened at $72.17 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $44.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.38, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $42.78 and a 52-week high of $87.52. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.95.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. Block’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SQ has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group cut their target price on Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Macquarie restated an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.79.

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.