Twin Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Twin Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 11.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,671 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,796 shares during the period. Twin Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Block were worth $1,156,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 4th quarter worth approximately $528,996,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 3,525.7% during the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $459,072,000 after purchasing an additional 5,771,310 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Block by 70.0% in the 4th quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,606,269 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $510,995,000 after purchasing an additional 2,720,123 shares in the last quarter. Trivest Advisors Ltd purchased a new position in Block during the 4th quarter worth $157,021,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Block by 3.7% during 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 last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Block Price Performance

SQ traded down $5.18 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $61.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,665,847 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,890,866. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 2.52. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.75 billion. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.04%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on SQ. Mizuho raised their price target on Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target (down previously from $62.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Block from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.33.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total value of $7,679,410.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total value of $7,679,410.08. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $91,070.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 93,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,651,194.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 138,173 shares of company stock worth $9,363,222 over the last 90 days. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.