Rakuten Securities Inc. Invests $794,000 in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 10,268 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $794,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SQ. Capital Impact Advisors LLC grew its stake in Block by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Impact Advisors LLC now owns 5,401 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Block by 38.7% in the fourth quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 616 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC grew its stake in Block by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $489,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Block by 38.4% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 728 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Advisor Partners II LLC grew its stake in Block by 5.3% in the first quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 4,085 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Block Trading Down 0.5 %

SQ traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $73.14. 5,643,623 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,632,022. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $76.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 432.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 2.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.85 and a 52 week high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. Block had a return on equity of 0.63% and a net margin of 0.04%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total value of $8,364,510.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total value of $42,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 363,801 shares of company stock worth $27,284,175. Company insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on SQ. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Benchmark raised their target price on Block from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho raised their target price on Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.41.

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.