Profit Investment Management LLC Acquires 3,173 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Profit Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 34.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,337 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,173 shares during the quarter. Profit Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its holdings in Block by 45.7% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Block by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,799,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277,043 shares in the last quarter. Gladstone Capital Management LLP increased its stake in shares of Block by 244.1% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Capital Management LLP now owns 1,706,691 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,013,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210,758 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 13.9% during the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $494,672,000 after purchasing an additional 934,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D1 Capital Partners L.P. boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $118,103,000 after purchasing an additional 795,000 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Block Stock Performance

Block stock traded down $0.71 during trading on Friday, reaching $69.31. The company had a trading volume of 1,469,702 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,140,314. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.74. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.85 and a 52 week high of $87.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 2.49.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $175,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 92,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,443,360. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $175,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 92,048 shares in the company, valued at $6,443,360. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,715,608.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,714 shares of company stock valued at $1,812,932 over the last 90 days. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Macquarie reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, New Street Research initiated coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, September 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.31.

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.