Forsta AP Fonden Has $6.70 Million Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Forsta AP Fonden lessened its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ - Free Report) by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 103,900 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 9,900 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in Block were worth $6,701,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SQ. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Block by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 9,567 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $740,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Block by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,724,520 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $133,436,000 after purchasing an additional 334,877 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 4th quarter valued at about $349,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Block by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 253,211 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $19,586,000 after purchasing an additional 17,398 shares during the period. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Block by 307.2% in the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 51,017 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,946,000 after purchasing an additional 38,489 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company's stock.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SQ traded up $0.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $63.99. The stock had a trading volume of 4,682,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,436,420. The business's fifty day moving average is $64.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.82. The company has a market cap of $39.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.10, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 2.49. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $121,594.93. Following the sale, the insider now owns 590,761 shares in the company, valued at $38,027,285.57. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $121,594.93. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 590,761 shares in the company, valued at $38,027,285.57. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $30,318.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,977,784.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962 over the last three months. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SQ. Morgan Stanley dropped 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. UBS Group lowered their price target on Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Block from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note 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 research note on Friday, July 12th. One research 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $87.34.

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.