Focus Financial Network Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Focus Financial Network Inc. raised its position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,238 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc.’s holdings in Block were worth $687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Block by 2,333.6% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 303,201 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $25,645,000 after buying an additional 290,742 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the first quarter worth $480,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its stake in shares of Block by 65.8% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 10,115 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $856,000 after acquiring an additional 4,014 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the first quarter valued at $234,000. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Block in the first quarter valued at $213,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group cut their price target on Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, October 21st. New Street Research started coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, September 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.79.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE SQ opened at $72.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $44.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.48. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $42.78 and a 52-week high of $87.52. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $68.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The company had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total value of $30,940.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,715,608.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.88, for a total value of $30,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,366 shares in the company, valued at $5,715,608.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,884 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total value of $123,232.44. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 574,914 shares in the company, valued at $37,605,124.74. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,214 shares of company stock valued at $1,637,932 over the last three months. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.