Insider Selling: Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) CFO Sells 6,661 Shares of Stock

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.43, for a total transaction of $609,015.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 246,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,580,192.81. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Amrita Ahuja also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, October 2nd, Amrita Ahuja sold 5,935 shares of Block stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.53, for a total transaction of $388,920.55.

Block Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Block stock traded down $1.47 on Monday, hitting $90.79. 11,098,508 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,247,609. Block, Inc. has a one year low of $55.00 and a one year high of $94.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 2.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.27 billion, a PE ratio of 50.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 2.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $73.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.07.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in shares of Block by 45.7% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $650,396,000 after acquiring an additional 3,163,975 shares during the last quarter. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP acquired a new position in Block during the third quarter valued at approximately $114,121,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Block by 770.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,738,708 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $116,719,000 after purchasing an additional 1,538,849 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC raised its holdings in Block by 13.9% in the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $494,672,000 after purchasing an additional 934,588 shares during the period. Finally, D1 Capital Partners L.P. boosted its position in shares of Block by 76.7% during the second quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 1,831,342 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $118,103,000 after purchasing an additional 795,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on SQ. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets lowered Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $94.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, New Street Research assumed coverage on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.46.

Block Company 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.