Friedenthal Financial Takes Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,750 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $744,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at about $443,000. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in Block by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 526,501 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $33,954,000 after acquiring an additional 48,107 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Block by 48.2% in the 2nd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,266 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 2,363 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Block by 1.8% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 196,456 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $12,669,000 after buying an additional 3,479 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Block by 5.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 266,067 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,159,000 after purchasing an additional 13,649 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SQ. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Block from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Block from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Monday, October 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upgraded shares of Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.77.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,502 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.52, for a total value of $129,953.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 242,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,955,057.48. The trade was a 0.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.38, for a total transaction of $253,481.68. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 195,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,469,231.62. This represents a 1.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 29,981 shares of company stock worth $2,681,185. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Block Stock Performance

Block stock traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $82.15. 6,523,264 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,908,747. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.00 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26. The stock has a market cap of $50.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 2.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $74.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 2.07.

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.