LRI Investments LLC Acquires Shares of 400 Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 400 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Block by 3,995.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 901 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 879 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. bought a new position in Block in the 4th quarter worth approximately $212,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Block by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 5,860 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $453,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new position in Block in the 4th quarter valued at $396,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Block by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 154,581 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,957,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Block Price Performance

NYSE SQ opened at $60.38 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $64.52 and its 200-day moving average is $70.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $37.26 billion, a PE ratio of 78.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 2.52. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.85 and a 12-month high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.81%. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SQ. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price 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 stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Block from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.22.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $175,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 92,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,443,360. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $175,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 92,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,443,360. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 5,155 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total value of $367,345.30. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 599,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,695,429. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,505 shares of company stock valued at $1,683,811. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Block 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.