Aviance Capital Partners LLC Raises Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,023 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $853,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Block by 9.8% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 83,911 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,714,000 after purchasing an additional 7,507 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Block by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 154,987 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,860,000 after acquiring an additional 7,412 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Block by 173.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 75,310 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,155,000 after purchasing an additional 47,774 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Block by 5.1% during the third quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,114 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Block during the third quarter worth $641,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SQ. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Block from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.55.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of SQ stock traded down $1.93 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $71.60. The stock had a trading volume of 6,602,919 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,162,268. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.08 billion, a PE ratio of 92.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 2.57. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a return on equity of 2.07% and a net margin of 2.18%. The company had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were 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 directly owns 68,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,425,318.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $42,180.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,823 shares in the company, valued at $4,425,318.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at $26,521,910.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 477,469 shares of company stock worth $34,963,585 in the last three months. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.