Syon Capital LLC Takes $886,000 Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Syon Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 11,451 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $886,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SQ. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Block by 38.7% in the fourth quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 616 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Block by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $489,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. WP Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Block by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. WP Advisors LLC now owns 5,381 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $416,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Block by 38.4% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co grew its position in shares of Block by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 57,232 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,427,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SQ has been the subject of several analyst reports. BTIG Research upgraded Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Block from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $88.00 price objective (up from $86.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.67.

Block Stock Up 2.3 %

NYSE:SQ traded up $1.69 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $74.48. 4,646,251 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,803,548. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.90. Block, Inc. has a one year low of $38.85 and a one year high of $87.52. The company has a market cap of $45.86 billion, a PE ratio of 435.47, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 2.55.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. Equities analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 405,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total transaction of $42,180.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,823 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,425,318.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total value of $8,364,510.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 405,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 363,801 shares of company stock valued at $27,284,175 in the last ninety days. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Block 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.