Axa S.A. Buys 434 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Axa S.A. lifted its position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 9,950 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the period. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Block were worth $642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 318,549 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Block by 4.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,096,614 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,107,712,000 after purchasing an additional 582,826 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in Block by 45.7% during the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $650,396,000 after purchasing an additional 3,163,975 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC raised its position in Block by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $494,672,000 after purchasing an additional 934,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bares Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Block by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,487,251 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $347,089,000 after buying an additional 87,826 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SQ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Macquarie restated an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Friday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Block from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. New Street Research initiated coverage on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.34.

Block Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of SQ stock opened at $65.95 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.25. The stock has a market cap of $40.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 2.49. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.85 and a 12 month high of $87.52. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The company had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.27 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total transaction of $30,940.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,715,608.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 20,542 shares of company stock valued at $1,343,635. Company 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.