Institute for Wealth Management LLC. Grows Stock Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Institute for Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,076 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,784 shares during the period. Institute for Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Block were worth $1,785,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Decatur Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Block by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Decatur Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,783 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $513,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. Eudaimonia Partners LLC purchased a new position in Block in the 1st quarter valued at about $387,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $228,000. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Block by 31.3% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 25,320 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,616,000 after purchasing an additional 6,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $516,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Block Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of Block stock traded down $1.80 on Friday, hitting $70.26. 4,791,578 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,999,017. The stock has a market cap of $43.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 432.41, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 2.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $76.68 and its 200 day moving average is $65.85. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $87.52.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SQ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of Block from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.22.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at $26,521,910.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at $5,790,374.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 363,801 shares of company stock worth $27,284,175. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by 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.