Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Buys 754 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,890 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 754 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $1,538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SQ. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Block by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 215,372 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $16,659,000 after purchasing an additional 64,211 shares during the last quarter. Bluesphere Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Block during the fourth quarter worth about $321,000. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its holdings in Block by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 9,567 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $740,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the last quarter. Magnus Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Block during the fourth quarter worth about $202,000. Finally, Convergence Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Block in the fourth quarter valued at about $369,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on SQ. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Block from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $60.00 target price (down from $62.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Block from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.42.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SQ opened at $69.45 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $77.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.20, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.57. Block, Inc. has a one year low of $38.85 and a one year high of $87.52. 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 (NYSE:SQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.07%. The company had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 405,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 477,469 shares of company stock valued at $34,963,585. Corporate insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

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.