BluePath Capital Management LLC Boosts Stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

BluePath Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,684 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,883 shares during the period. BluePath Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $1,204,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SQ. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Block in the third quarter worth approximately $114,121,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Block by 770.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,738,708 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $116,719,000 after buying an additional 1,538,849 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC increased 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 buying an additional 934,588 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. raised its position in shares of Block by 76.7% during the 2nd quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 1,831,342 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $118,103,000 after buying an additional 795,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 1,061.0% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 657,667 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,413,000 after acquiring an additional 601,020 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on SQ shares. Oppenheimer raised Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Monday, October 21st. Macquarie boosted their target price on Block from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.35.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $80,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 88,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,103,280. This trade represents a 1.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was 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 directly owns 195,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,469,231.62. This represents a 1.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,981 shares of company stock worth $2,681,185 over the last ninety days. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Block Stock Performance

Block stock opened at $84.83 on Thursday. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.00 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26. The stock has a market cap of $52.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.66, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 2.51. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $74.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07.

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.