Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd Sells 11,750 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd trimmed its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 32.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,000 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 11,750 shares during the period. Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd’s holdings in Block were worth $1,612,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the first quarter worth $28,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the first quarter worth $33,000. Vima LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the first quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth $34,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.34.

Block Price Performance

SQ stock opened at $67.82 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $64.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.90. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $87.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.08, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its earnings results 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. Block had a net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.27 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $30,318.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $30,318.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $121,594.93. Following the sale, the insider now owns 590,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,027,285.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962 in the last three months. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Company 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.