Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 8,922 Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 8,922 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $599,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position in Block by 45.7% during the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $650,396,000 after purchasing an additional 3,163,975 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $494,672,000 after buying an additional 934,588 shares in the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. grew its stake in Block by 76.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 795,000 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in Block by 1,061.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in Block by 4.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,096,614 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,107,712,000 after acquiring an additional 582,826 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. William Blair upgraded Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Monday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.79.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Block news, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total value of $33,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 90,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,060,820. The trade was 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 company insiders.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE:SQ opened at $72.15 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $42.78 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $68.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.37, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.48.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.27 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

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.