Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Reduces Stock Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its holdings in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 199,859 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,617 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Block were worth $12,889,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Block by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,511,250 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,088,122,000 after acquiring an additional 318,549 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position 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 worth $1,107,712,000 after acquiring an additional 582,826 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its position 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 boosted its position in Block by 70.0% during the 4th quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 6,606,269 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $510,995,000 after purchasing an additional 2,720,123 shares during the period. Finally, Bares Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Block by 2.0% during the 4th 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on SQ shares. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company 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 given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.34.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of SQ stock opened at $67.46 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.85 and a 1-year 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. The company 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. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.01.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $121,594.93. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 590,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,027,285.57. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $121,594.93. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 590,761 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,027,285.57. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,007.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.