Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Trims Stock Holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lessened its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,723 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,570 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in Block were worth $369,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 318,549 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 4.7% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased 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 acquiring an additional 3,163,975 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Block by 70.0% during the fourth quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,606,269 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $510,995,000 after purchasing an additional 2,720,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bares Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 87,826 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SQ has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Monday, June 24th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.34.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $121,594.93. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 590,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,027,285.57. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $38,027,285.57. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was 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 owns 92,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,977,784.42. 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. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Block Stock Performance

SQ opened at $66.77 on Thursday. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.20 billion, a PE ratio of 86.71, a PEG ratio of 1.11 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. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $64.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.11.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The business had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal 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.