Goldstone Financial Group LLC Acquires New Holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Goldstone Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 3,247 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in shares of Block by 45.7% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $650,396,000 after acquiring an additional 3,163,975 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC grew its stake in Block by 13.9% in the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $494,672,000 after purchasing an additional 934,588 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. raised its holdings in Block by 76.7% in the second quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 1,831,342 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $118,103,000 after purchasing an additional 795,000 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in Block by 1,061.0% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 657,667 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,413,000 after purchasing an additional 601,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Block by 4.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,096,614 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,107,712,000 after buying an additional 582,826 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In related news, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total transaction of $33,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 90,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,060,820. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 25,214 shares of company stock worth $1,637,932. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SQ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. New Street Research assumed coverage on Block in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Oppenheimer started coverage on Block in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.79.

Block Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of SQ stock opened at $72.32 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.88 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $67.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.50, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.49.

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

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.