BNP Paribas Cuts Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

BNP Paribas decreased its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 2.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 16,345 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 407 shares during the period. BNP Paribas’ holdings in Block were worth $1,098,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,651,886 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $110,891,000 after purchasing an additional 8,200 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,083,113 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $72,709,000 after purchasing an additional 128,832 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,233,102 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $686,948,000 after purchasing an additional 147,873 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $494,672,000 after purchasing an additional 934,588 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 541,204 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,969,000 after purchasing an additional 14,163 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.43, for a total transaction of $609,015.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 246,967 shares in the company, valued at $22,580,192.81. The trade was a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,884 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total transaction of $123,232.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 574,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,605,124.74. The trade was a 0.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,053 shares of company stock worth $2,393,972 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE SQ opened at $88.77 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.00 and a 52 week high of $94.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.02 billion, a PE ratio of 49.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 2.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $75.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.47.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SQ. BMO Capital Markets cut Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $94.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Block from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Block in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.46.

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.