Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,936 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 192 shares during the quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $250,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. SouthState Corp grew its position in shares of Block by 85.3% in the 3rd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 391 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in Block by 64.7% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 494 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Block by 67.7% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 394 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Block by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 418 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Block in the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SQ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $94.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Raymond James raised shares of Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Block from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays raised their price target on Block from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Block from $90.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.68.

Block Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of SQ opened at $87.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.97 billion, a PE ratio of 48.92, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 2.51. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.00 and a 1 year high of $99.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.98.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,502 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.52, for a total transaction of $129,953.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 242,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,955,057.48. The trade was a 0.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.18, for a total transaction of $759,347.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 563,894 shares in the company, valued at $51,415,854.92. This trade represents a 1.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 29,981 shares of company stock worth $2,681,185. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

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.