PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. cut its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 12.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,332 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 3,826 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Block were worth $1,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Block by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,651,886 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,891,000 after acquiring an additional 8,200 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Block by 13.5% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,083,113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $72,709,000 after purchasing an additional 128,832 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in shares of Block by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,233,102 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $686,948,000 after purchasing an additional 147,873 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Block by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $494,672,000 after purchasing an additional 934,588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in shares of Block by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 541,204 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $35,969,000 after purchasing an additional 14,163 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SQ opened at $89.04 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $74.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.32. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.00 and a fifty-two week high of $94.12. The firm has a market cap of $55.19 billion, a PE ratio of 50.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 2.48. The company has a quick ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.18, for a total transaction of $759,347.04. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 563,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,415,854.92. This trade represents a 1.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,964 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $237,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 88,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,088,560. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 29,053 shares of company stock valued at $2,393,972. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $94.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.46.

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.