Institute for Wealth Management LLC. Has $1.79 Million Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Institute for Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 23,076 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,784 shares during the period. Institute for Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Block were worth $1,785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SQ. Decatur Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Block by 11.1% during the first quarter. Decatur Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,783 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $513,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Eudaimonia Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the first quarter worth $387,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth $228,000. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Block by 31.3% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 25,320 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,616,000 after acquiring an additional 6,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth $516,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SQ. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price (down previously from $62.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Block from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on Block from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.22.

Block Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of SQ stock traded down $1.80 on Friday, hitting $70.26. 4,791,578 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,999,017. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 432.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 2.55. The business has a 50-day moving average of $76.68 and a 200 day moving average of $65.85. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a return on equity of 0.63% and a net margin of 0.04%. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,521,910.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 2,581 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $165,958.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 201,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,972,782.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total value of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,521,910.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 363,801 shares of company stock valued at $27,284,175. Insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

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.