Insider Selling: Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) CFO Sells 1,502 Shares of Stock

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,502 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.52, for a total value of $129,953.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 242,199 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,955,057.48. The trade was a 0.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Amrita Ahuja also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, November 21st, Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of Block stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.43, for a total value of $609,015.23.

Block Trading Down 0.2 %

SQ opened at $92.01 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $57.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 2.51. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business’s 50 day moving average is $87.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.48. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.00 and a 52 week high of $99.26.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on SQ shares. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. New Street Research started coverage on Block in a research report on Monday, September 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Block from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $94.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.77.

Institutional Trading of Block

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the third quarter valued at $114,121,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Block by 770.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,738,708 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $116,719,000 after purchasing an additional 1,538,849 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its stake in Block by 13.9% in the second quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $494,672,000 after purchasing an additional 934,588 shares during the last quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. increased its stake in Block by 76.7% in the second quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 1,831,342 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $118,103,000 after purchasing an additional 795,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Block by 1,061.0% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 657,667 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,413,000 after purchasing an additional 601,020 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.