Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Sells 10,205 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd cut its holdings in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 17.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 47,117 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 10,205 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Block were worth $3,644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Block by 1.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,915,658 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,545,367,000 after acquiring an additional 585,801 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Block by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 11,887,628 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $919,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,514 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Block by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 10,377,973 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $802,736,000 after buying an additional 75,161 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its position in shares of Block by 3,525.7% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $459,072,000 after buying an additional 5,771,310 shares during the period. Finally, Bares Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Block by 0.3% during the third quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,399,425 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $194,719,000 after buying an additional 11,376 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SQ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Block from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $88.00 target price (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Monday. Citigroup boosted their price target on Block from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on shares of Block from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total transaction of $42,180.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,823 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,425,318.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 4,514 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.41, for a total transaction of $353,942.74. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 477,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,424,308.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $42,180.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,425,318.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 363,801 shares of company stock worth $27,284,175 in the last quarter. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Block Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE:SQ opened at $71.61 on Tuesday. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.85 and a 52 week high of $87.52. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $76.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market cap of $44.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 414.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 2.55.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (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 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 expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.