Stevens Capital Management LP Buys Shares of 2,603 Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 2,603 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in Block by 3,525.7% during the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $459,072,000 after buying an additional 5,771,310 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the third quarter valued at $172,001,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in Block by 72.8% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 2,683,346 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $118,765,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,925 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Block by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 11,887,628 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $919,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Block by 396.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,228,886 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $54,390,000 after purchasing an additional 981,320 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Trading Up 2.3 %

Block stock traded up $1.71 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $74.50. The stock had a trading volume of 4,648,118 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,805,016. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $87.52. The company has a fifty day moving average of $77.21 and a 200 day moving average of $66.90. The firm has a market cap of $45.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 435.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 2.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SQ shares. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Mizuho upped their price objective on Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. BTIG Research upgraded Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted 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. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.67.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 4,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.84, for a total value of $328,762.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,231,257.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 4,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.84, for a total transaction of $328,762.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,231,257.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was 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 $5,790,374.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 363,801 shares of company stock worth $27,284,175. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.