Secure Asset Management LLC Buys 8,940 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Secure Asset Management LLC grew its position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ - Free Report) by 254.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,448 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 8,940 shares during the period. Secure Asset Management LLC's holdings in Block were worth $803,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SQ. Bares Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Block by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,487,251 shares of the technology company's stock worth $347,089,000 after purchasing an additional 87,826 shares during the period. Trivest Advisors Ltd bought a new position in Block during the fourth quarter worth about $157,021,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Block by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,799,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277,043 shares in the last quarter. &PARTNERS lifted its holdings in Block by 8.3% during the first quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 8,641 shares of the technology company's stock worth $731,000 after acquiring an additional 659 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in Block during the fourth quarter worth about $1,184,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of Block stock traded up $1.52 on Friday, hitting $65.36. The stock had a trading volume of 5,618,465 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,718,805. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52. The business's 50 day moving average is $63.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $40.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 EPS 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $30,318.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,866 shares in the company, valued at $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $30,318.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,866 shares in the company, valued at $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,277 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.13, for a total value of $338,414.01. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 274,410 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,597,913.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SQ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Friday, May 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Block from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $86.59.

Block Company 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.