Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Insider Sells $253,481.68 in Stock

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.38, for a total value of $253,481.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 195,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,469,231.62. This trade represents a 1.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Block Price Performance

SQ opened at $86.61 on Thursday. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.00 and a 1 year high of $99.26. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.68 billion, a PE ratio of 48.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 2.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on SQ shares. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Block from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Macquarie boosted their price target on Block from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $94.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.77.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Swiss National Bank raised its position 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 buying an additional 8,200 shares during the period. National Pension Service raised 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. lifted its stake 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 valued at $686,948,000 after purchasing an additional 147,873 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Block by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 253,787 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $17,037,000 after purchasing an additional 14,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 13.9% during 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% 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.