Ulland Investment Advisors LLC Takes $75,000 Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Ulland Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,110 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SQ. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in Block in the first quarter worth $28,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in Block during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. New Street Research began coverage on Block in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. William Blair raised Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated 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, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.79.

Block Price Performance

SQ stock traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $71.74. 2,508,222 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,128,890. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $65.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.34. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.85 and a 12 month high of $87.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.99, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 2.49.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 EPS. Block’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total transaction of $30,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,366 shares in the company, valued at $5,715,608.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Roelof Botha acquired 434,405 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,000,007.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total transaction of $30,940.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,715,608.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,214 shares of company stock worth $1,637,932. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.