Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,456 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 727 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Block were worth $809,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Block by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,799,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277,043 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Block by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,513,788 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $967,942,000 after acquiring an additional 212,218 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Block by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 11,887,628 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $919,508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,514 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted 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 valued at $802,736,000 after acquiring an additional 75,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. increased its position in Block by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 8,982,862 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $694,735,000 after purchasing an additional 71,735 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total value of $42,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,790,374.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 247,739 shares of company stock valued at $18,584,747. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Up 0.4 %

Block stock traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $62.75. The stock had a trading volume of 706,201 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,356,701. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $69.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.85. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.85 and a 12 month high of $87.52. The stock has a market cap of $38.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 2.54.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.75 billion. Research analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 1.28 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on SQ. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on Block from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. TD Cowen upped their target price on Block from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price target on Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.59.

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.