Owen Britton Jennings Sells 2,836 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Stock

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 2,836 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.38, for a total transaction of $253,481.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 195,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,469,231.62. The trade was a 1.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Block Stock Down 4.7 %

Shares of NYSE:SQ opened at $87.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $54.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.25, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 2.51. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.00 and a 52-week high of $99.26. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SQ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $88.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Macquarie boosted their price target on Block from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $94.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.77.

Institutional Trading of Block

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its holdings in Block by 1.5% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,233,102 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $686,948,000 after buying an additional 147,873 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Block by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,690,075 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $581,923,000 after acquiring an additional 133,002 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its position in Block by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $494,672,000 after acquiring an additional 934,588 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Block by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,202,388 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $147,846,000 after purchasing an additional 45,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Block by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,157,733 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $139,143,000 after purchasing an additional 326,444 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Company 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.