State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 109,739 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 34.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 206,065 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 109,739 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Block were worth $13,289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in Block during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Tidemark LLC bought a new stake in Block in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Block during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Vima LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the first quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SQ has been the topic of several research reports. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Macquarie reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Friday, July 26th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Block from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.34.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,866 shares in the company, valued at $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of the firm’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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $30,318.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,977,784.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962 in the last 90 days. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Block Trading Up 0.5 %

SQ opened at $63.96 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a one year low of $38.85 and a one year 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 stock has a market cap of $39.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 2.49. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $64.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.43.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.27 billion. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The business’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

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.