Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. Has $558,000 Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. reduced its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,220 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 930 shares during the quarter. Block makes up 2.0% of Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Block were worth $558,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 72.3% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 610 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 616 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 89.6% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 635 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 67,500.0% during the third quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 676 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 38.4% during 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 last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total value of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 2,581 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 value of $165,958.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 201,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,972,782.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 363,801 shares of company stock worth $27,284,175. 10.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Block from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $88.00 price objective (up from $86.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Benchmark upped their price target on Block from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.67.

Block Stock Up 5.0 %

Shares of NYSE SQ traded up $3.61 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $75.21. 7,465,790 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,979,615. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 414.23, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 2.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.81. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.77 billion for 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.02 EPS 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.