Andra AP fonden Purchases 137,500 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Andra AP fonden raised its holdings in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 414.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 170,700 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 137,500 shares during the period. Andra AP fonden’s holdings in Block were worth $11,008,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SQ. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Block by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,511,250 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,088,122,000 after acquiring an additional 318,549 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Block by 4.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,096,614 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,107,712,000 after purchasing an additional 582,826 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in shares of Block by 45.7% in the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $650,396,000 after buying an additional 3,163,975 shares during the period. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its holdings in Block by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 8,982,862 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $694,735,000 after buying an additional 71,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Block in the 4th quarter worth $528,996,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. William Blair raised Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.93.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $30,318.27. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,866 shares in the company, valued at $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Block news, Director Roelof Botha acquired 434,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $30,318.27. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,977,784.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 28,179 shares of company stock valued at $1,833,962 in the last 90 days. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SQ opened at $61.39 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $37.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.73, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 2.49. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a 50 day moving average of $64.16 and a 200 day moving average of $69.59.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.