Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC Sells 1,992 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 26.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,452 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,992 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $422,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Block by 4.4% in the third quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 6,182 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Block by 4.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 51,738 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,290,000 after purchasing an additional 2,246 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Block by 38.4% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 728 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Block by 2.8% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 189,971 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,408,000 after buying an additional 5,143 shares during the period. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP grew its holdings in Block by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 4,603 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $204,000 after acquiring an additional 618 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Block Price Performance

NYSE:SQ opened at $66.30 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.85 and a 12-month high of $87.52. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $75.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 2.57.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.32. The company had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.75 billion. Block had a return on equity of 2.04% and a net margin of 2.18%. On average, analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $483,712.88. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 282,886 shares in the company, valued at $20,158,456.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 359,653 shares of company stock worth $27,333,065 in the last quarter. 10.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SQ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Block from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective (up from $86.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.59.

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.