Financial Counselors Inc. Takes Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Financial Counselors Inc. bought a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,062 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Block by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,651,886 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,891,000 after purchasing an additional 8,200 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Block by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,083,113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $72,709,000 after purchasing an additional 128,832 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Block by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,233,102 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $686,948,000 after purchasing an additional 147,873 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Block by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $494,672,000 after purchasing an additional 934,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in shares of Block by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 541,204 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $35,969,000 after purchasing an additional 14,163 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Price Performance

NYSE:SQ opened at $88.55 on Monday. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.00 and a 1-year high of $94.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.88 billion, a PE ratio of 49.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 2.48.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,884 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total transaction of $123,232.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,605,124.74. The trade was a 0.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,781 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.43, for a total transaction of $162,836.83. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 86,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,863,894.30. This trade represents a 2.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 29,053 shares of company stock valued at $2,393,972. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SQ. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $94.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Block from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.46.

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.