Capital International Sarl Grows Stock Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Capital International Sarl lifted its position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,651 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,215 shares during the quarter. Capital International Sarl’s holdings in Block were worth $4,369,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bares Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Block by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,487,251 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $347,089,000 after purchasing an additional 87,826 shares during the last quarter. Trivest Advisors Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Block in the fourth quarter worth about $157,021,000. IFG Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the fourth quarter worth about $213,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 raised its stake in shares of 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 currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SQ traded down $1.42 during trading on Friday, reaching $60.16. The stock had a trading volume of 11,376,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,896,331. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.85 and a 1-year high of $87.52. The stock has a market cap of $37.12 billion, a PE ratio of 78.13, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 2.52. 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 fifty day moving average price of $65.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.42.

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. Block had a return on equity of 2.04% and a net margin of 2.18%. The firm had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.75 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SQ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho raised their price objective on Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Block from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Macquarie reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Block from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Block has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of Block 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 owns 93,337 shares in the company, valued at $6,651,194.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $91,070.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 93,337 shares in the company, valued at $6,651,194.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 5,155 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $367,345.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 599,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,695,429. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 138,173 shares of company stock worth $9,363,222. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.