First Hawaiian Bank Sells 584 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

First Hawaiian Bank lessened its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 11.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,421 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 584 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in Block were worth $376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in Block by 1.5% in the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,233,102 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $686,948,000 after purchasing an additional 147,873 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 934,588 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Block by 2.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,202,388 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $147,846,000 after acquiring an additional 45,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Block by 17.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,157,733 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $139,143,000 after purchasing an additional 326,444 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SQ. Oppenheimer upgraded Block from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Block from $87.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Macquarie upped their target price on shares of Block from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Block from $100.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.77.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,502 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.52, for a total transaction of $129,953.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 242,199 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,955,057.48. The trade was a 0.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,865 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $272,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 85,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,097,325. This represents a 3.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,981 shares of company stock worth $2,681,185 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Down 4.7 %

NYSE SQ opened at $82.66 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.00 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $88.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 2.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.23 billion, a PE ratio of 46.44, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 2.51.

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.