Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Holdings Cut by Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,636 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 2,843 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $1,752,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SQ. Bares Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Block by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,487,251 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $347,089,000 after purchasing an additional 87,826 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Block by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,799,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277,043 shares during the last quarter. &PARTNERS increased its holdings in shares of Block by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 8,641 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $731,000 after acquiring an additional 659 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new stake in Block in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,184,000. Finally, CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp bought a new stake in Block in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,487,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. William Blair upgraded shares of Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.34.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total transaction of $430,966.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 264,697 shares in the company, valued at $17,125,895.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total value of $430,966.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 264,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,125,895.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Roelof Botha acquired 434,405 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Price Performance

NYSE SQ opened at $67.46 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.85 and a 1 year high of $87.52. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $64.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.01. The company has a market cap of $41.63 billion, a PE ratio of 87.61, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The business had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

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.