NewEdge Wealth LLC Increases Stock Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 49.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,998 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,970 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $696,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Block by 89.6% during the 3rd 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 raised its position in shares of Block by 67,500.0% during the 3rd quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 676 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Block during the first quarter worth $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Block by 38.4% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 728 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Headinvest LLC acquired a new position in Block in the third quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $88.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Block from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Block from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Block has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.41.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE:SQ opened at $73.12 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $76.51 and a 200-day moving average of $65.75. The firm has a market cap of $45.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 432.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 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. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. Block had a net margin of 0.04% and a return on equity of 0.63%. Analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at $5,790,374.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 4,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,231,257.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 363,801 shares of company stock worth $27,284,175. Insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

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.