Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Buys 326,444 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 17.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,157,733 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 326,444 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.35% of Block worth $139,143,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Block by 0.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,511,250 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,088,122,000 after purchasing an additional 318,549 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Block by 4.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,096,614 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,107,712,000 after acquiring an additional 582,826 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in Block by 45.7% in the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $650,396,000 after acquiring an additional 3,163,975 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC grew its stake in Block by 70.0% in the fourth quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,606,269 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $510,995,000 after acquiring an additional 2,720,123 shares during the period. Finally, Bares Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Block by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,487,251 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $347,089,000 after acquiring an additional 87,826 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on SQ. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, June 24th. One research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.34.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,007.75. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,007.75. The acquisition 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 that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.77, for a total value of $539,404.56. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 580,086 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,572,170.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Price Performance

NYSE:SQ opened at $67.46 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $64.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.49. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.85 and a 12-month high of $87.52.

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

Block 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.