Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 691 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,488 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 691 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $811,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Block by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,915,658 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,545,367,000 after buying an additional 585,801 shares in the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Block by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 11,887,628 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $919,508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,514 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Block by 3.5% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,685,675 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $389,576,000 after purchasing an additional 189,718 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Block in the 4th quarter worth $353,954,000. Finally, Dragoneer Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 50.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC now owns 4,685,391 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $311,906,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572,356 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of SQ stock opened at $77.17 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $75.10 and a 200 day moving average of $64.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.51 billion, a PE ratio of 453.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 2.55. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.85 and a 1-year high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its 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 net margin of 0.04% and a return on equity of 0.63%. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SQ has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Benchmark raised their target price on Block from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their price objective on Block from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.72.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 4,170 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.84, for a total value of $328,762.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,231,257.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 4,170 shares of the firm’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 at the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 worth $27,284,175. Company insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

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.