Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. Reduces Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. reduced its position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 8.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,265 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 466 shares during the quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s holdings in Block were worth $407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SQ. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Block by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,915,658 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,545,367,000 after purchasing an additional 585,801 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its position in Block by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 11,887,628 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $919,508,000 after buying an additional 1,000,514 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Block by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 10,377,973 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $802,736,000 after acquiring an additional 75,161 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in Block by 3,525.7% during the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $459,072,000 after purchasing an additional 5,771,310 shares during the period. Finally, Bares Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Block by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,399,425 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $194,719,000 after buying an additional 11,376 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at $5,790,374.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 2,581 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $165,958.30. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 201,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,972,782.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total value of $42,375.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at $5,790,374.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 363,801 shares of company stock worth $27,284,175. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on SQ shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Block from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Block from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Block from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.67.

Block Trading Down 1.1 %

Block stock traded down $0.86 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $74.35. The stock had a trading volume of 2,737,981 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,887,005. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.78 billion, a PE ratio of 421.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 2.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.81. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52.

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

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.