Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC trimmed its position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 305,263 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 14,710 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $19,686,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,163,975 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,720,123 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Block by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,799,505,000 after buying an additional 1,277,043 shares in the last quarter. Gladstone Capital Management LLP lifted its position in shares of Block by 244.1% during the 4th quarter. Gladstone Capital Management LLP now owns 1,706,691 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $132,013,000 after buying an additional 1,210,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block during the 4th quarter valued at about $64,533,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE:SQ opened at $67.46 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $64.24 and its 200 day moving average is $69.01. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.63 billion, a PE ratio of 87.61, 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 quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. Block’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,866 shares in the company, valued at $5,977,784.42. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of Block stock in a transaction on 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 purchase, the director now owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,000,007.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SQ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. 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. UBS Group lowered their price target on Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Macquarie reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One research 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.34.

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.