National Pension Service Acquires 14,410 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

National Pension Service boosted its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 914,360 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,410 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.15% of Block worth $70,726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Block by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,915,658 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,545,367,000 after buying an additional 585,801 shares in the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Block by 9.2% during 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. raised its position 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 worth $802,736,000 after purchasing an additional 75,161 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 3,525.7% in the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $459,072,000 after purchasing an additional 5,771,310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bares Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Block by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,399,425 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $194,719,000 after purchasing an additional 11,376 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Block Price Performance

NYSE:SQ traded up $1.75 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $72.89. The stock had a trading volume of 2,808,389 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,031,710. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 2.57. Block, Inc. has a one year low of $38.85 and a one year high of $87.52. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a return on equity of 2.07% and a net margin of 2.18%. The business had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. Research analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total value of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total value of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 405,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 2,581 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total transaction of $165,958.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 201,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,972,782.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 477,469 shares of company stock valued at $34,963,585. Insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SQ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, February 23rd. KeyCorp raised their target price on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.55.

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.