Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Lowers Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lessened its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 27.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 416,317 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 154,610 shares during the quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in Block were worth $322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SQ. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 3,525.7% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $459,072,000 after buying an additional 5,771,310 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new stake in Block in the third quarter worth $172,001,000. Trivest Advisors Ltd bought a new stake in Block in the fourth quarter worth $157,021,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position 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 worth $118,765,000 after purchasing an additional 1,130,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC increased 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SQ shares. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Block from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.59.

Block Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Block stock opened at $66.30 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.85 and a 1 year high of $87.52. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $75.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.84. The stock has a market cap of $40.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.11, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 2.57.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.32. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.04%. The company had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.75 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total value of $7,679,410.08. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total value of $42,375.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 603,861 shares in the company, valued at $40,796,849.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 359,653 shares of company stock worth $27,333,065 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 10.49% 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.