Truist Financial Corp Buys 10,921 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 8.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 145,365 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,921 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Block were worth $11,244,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Block by 89.6% in the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 635 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Front Row Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Block by 67,500.0% in the 3rd quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 676 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Block by 38.4% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 728 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, CNB Bank increased its holdings in shares of Block by 40.2% in the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 1,046 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SQ. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $88.00 price target (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Block in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Citigroup raised their price target on Block from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Block from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total transaction of $42,180.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,425,318.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,425,318.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $8,364,510.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at $26,521,910.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 363,801 shares of company stock valued at $27,284,175. Insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Block Trading Down 8.5 %

Block stock opened at $66.83 on Thursday. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.85 and a 12 month high of $87.52. The company has a market capitalization of $41.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 429.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 2.57. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a return on equity of 0.63% and a net margin of 0.04%. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.