Arkadios Wealth Advisors Buys 2,176 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 33,602 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,176 shares during the quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Block were worth $2,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lone Pine Capital LLC grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in Block by 165.2% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 453,545 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,446,000 after acquiring an additional 282,550 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP increased its stake in Block by 2.7% during the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 34,899 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,952,000 after acquiring an additional 927 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Block by 194.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 104,642 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,851,000 after purchasing an additional 69,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,121,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Block Price Performance

NYSE SQ opened at $72.61 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $44.80 billion, a PE ratio of 94.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.49. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $67.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The business had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total value of $30,940.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,366 shares in the company, valued at $5,715,608.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Block news, Director Roelof Botha acquired 434,405 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total value of $30,940.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,715,608.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,214 shares of company stock worth $1,637,932 in the last three months. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SQ shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Block from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Macquarie reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.79.

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.