Optimum Investment Advisors Grows Holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Optimum Investment Advisors increased its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 400.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,500 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the quarter. Optimum Investment Advisors’ holdings in Block were worth $101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Block by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 10,618 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $898,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc lifted its stake in Block by 7.2% during the first quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 2,300 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $195,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Block by 25.4% in the first quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 765 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. CAP Partners LLC increased its stake in Block by 3.5% during the first quarter. CAP Partners LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Block by 17.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,129 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Block Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:SQ opened at $74.67 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $45.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.34, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 2.49. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.85 and a 1-year high of $87.52. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $66.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.29.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $6.16 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.40 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SQ has been the subject of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Roelof Botha acquired 434,405 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 434,405 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,000,007.75. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.77, for a total transaction of $539,404.56. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 580,086 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,572,170.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Roelof Botha acquired 434,405 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $57.55 per share, with a total value of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,214 shares of company stock valued at $1,637,932. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.