Federated Hermes Inc. Boosts Stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 196,456 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,479 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Block were worth $12,669,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SQ. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Block in the fourth quarter worth about $528,996,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Block by 45.7% in the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $650,396,000 after buying an additional 3,163,975 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Block by 70.0% in the fourth quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,606,269 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $510,995,000 after buying an additional 2,720,123 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Block by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,799,505,000 after buying an additional 1,277,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gladstone Capital Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of Block by 244.1% in the fourth quarter. Gladstone Capital Management LLP now owns 1,706,691 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $132,013,000 after buying an additional 1,210,758 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SQ has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Block from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.34.

Block Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of SQ stock opened at $65.81 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 2.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $64.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.22. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.77, for a total transaction of $539,404.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 580,086 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,572,170.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Roelof Botha acquired 434,405 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the transaction, the director now owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,000,007.75. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.77, for a total transaction of $539,404.56. Following the sale, the insider now owns 580,086 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,572,170.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

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.