Kovack Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 14.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,352 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 422 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Block were worth $284,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SQ. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 3.7% during the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,788 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 387 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Block by 6.4% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 18,111 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $802,000 after purchasing an additional 1,084 shares during the period. Lido Advisors LLC lifted its position in Block by 15.6% during the third quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 4,934 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in Block by 4.5% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 208,339 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $9,224,000 after purchasing an additional 9,009 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its position in Block by 435.9% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 23,292 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,031,000 after purchasing an additional 18,946 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $91,070.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 93,337 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,651,194.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 5,155 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $367,345.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 599,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,695,429. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $91,070.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 93,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,651,194.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 126,889 shares of company stock worth $8,621,539 in the last 90 days. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Block Price Performance

Block stock opened at $64.44 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $67.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.76 billion, a PE ratio of 83.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 2.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.85 and a 12-month high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.75 billion. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.04%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.28 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Block from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.13.

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.