Block Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:SQ)

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 70,642 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 28% compared to the average daily volume of 55,015 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,935 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.53, for a total transaction of $388,920.55. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 255,496 shares in the company, valued at $16,742,652.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Block news, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,007.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,935 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.53, for a total value of $388,920.55. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 255,496 shares in the company, valued at $16,742,652.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,714 shares of company stock valued at $1,812,932 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Personal CFO Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Block during the fourth quarter worth about $264,000. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted 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 valued at $510,995,000 after buying an additional 2,720,123 shares in the last quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Block by 2.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Block by 1,693,700.0% during the 4th quarter. Berkshire Capital Holdings Inc. now owns 169,380 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,102,000 after acquiring an additional 169,370 shares during the period. Finally, Harbert Fund Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Block during the fourth quarter worth $1,296,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE SQ traded up $2.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $70.87. 4,152,267 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,152,944. The company’s 50-day moving average is $64.52 and its 200-day moving average is $67.73. Block has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $87.52. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $43.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.65, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 2.49.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 3.47% and a return on equity of 3.77%. The firm 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 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Block will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. New Street Research started 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. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.31.

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.