Bamco Inc. NY Buys 3,048 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Bamco Inc. NY lifted its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 0.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 430,091 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,048 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY’s holdings in Block were worth $36,377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Block in the 4th quarter worth $528,996,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in shares of Block by 3,525.7% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its holdings in Block by 70.0% during the 4th quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,606,269 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $510,995,000 after purchasing an additional 2,720,123 shares during the period. Trivest Advisors Ltd bought a new position in Block during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $157,021,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Block by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,799,505,000 after buying an additional 1,277,043 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of SQ stock traded down $1.40 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $60.18. The company had a trading volume of 11,388,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,080,625. The firm has a market cap of $37.13 billion, a PE ratio of 78.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.52. Block, Inc. has a one year low of $38.85 and a one year high of $87.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $65.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.45.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.32. Block had a return on equity of 2.04% and a net margin of 2.18%. The firm had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.75 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Block from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.13, for a total transaction of $338,414.01. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 274,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,597,913.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 5,155 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $367,345.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 599,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,695,429. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.13, for a total value of $338,414.01. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 274,410 shares in the company, valued at $17,597,913.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 138,173 shares of company stock valued at $9,363,222. 10.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.