Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Shares Sold by Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lessened its position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 2.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,554 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,417 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Block were worth $3,712,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of SQ. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Block by 0.9% in 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 buying an additional 318,549 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Block by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,096,614 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,107,712,000 after buying an additional 582,826 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in Block by 45.7% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $650,396,000 after buying an additional 3,163,975 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Block in the 4th quarter valued at about $528,996,000. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC grew its position in Block by 70.0% in the 4th quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,606,269 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $510,995,000 after buying an additional 2,720,123 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SQ shares. Macquarie reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 target price 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 report on Monday, August 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective 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. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, New Street Research started coverage on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-four have issued 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 price target of $87.34.

Block Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of SQ stock opened at $63.99 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.85 and a 12 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $64.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.37. The company has a market cap of $39.40 billion, a PE ratio of 83.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 2.49.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $30,318.27. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,866 shares in the company, valued at $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $30,318.27. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,866 shares in the company, valued at $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.13, for a total transaction of $338,414.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 274,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,597,913.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

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.