Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC Buys New Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,673 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Bares Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Block by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,487,251 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $347,089,000 after acquiring an additional 87,826 shares in the last quarter. Trivest Advisors Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Block in the fourth quarter worth approximately $157,021,000. IFG Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Block by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,799,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277,043 shares during the period. Finally, &PARTNERS grew its position in Block by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 8,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $731,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Price Performance

Block stock traded down $1.40 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $60.18. 11,388,681 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,080,625. The company has a market capitalization of $37.13 billion, a PE ratio of 78.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.52. The business has a fifty day moving average of $65.37 and a 200 day moving average of $70.43. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.85 and a 1-year high of $87.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $5.96 billion during 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,277 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.13, for a total transaction of $338,414.01. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 274,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,597,913.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.13, for a total value of $338,414.01. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 274,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,597,913.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 603,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 138,173 shares of company stock valued at $9,363,222 in the last three months. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Block from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.64.

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.