Empowered Funds LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,778 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 657 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $1,596,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new stake in Block in the second quarter valued at about $44,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,964 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $237,120.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 88,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,088,560. The trade was a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,884 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total transaction of $123,232.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 574,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,605,124.74. This represents a 0.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,283 shares of company stock valued at $862,773 in the last quarter. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on SQ. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. BNP Paribas cut Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Block in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. 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 report on Tuesday, August 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.18.

Block Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SQ opened at $92.82 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $57.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.15, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 2.48. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.00 and a 12 month high of $93.96. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

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.