J. Stern & Co. LLP Has $1.06 Million Stock Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ - Free Report) by 427.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 16,445 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,325 shares during the quarter. Block makes up 0.1% of J. Stern & Co. LLP's portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. J. Stern & Co. LLP's holdings in Block were worth $1,061,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Block during the first quarter valued at $28,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the first quarter valued at $33,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the first quarter valued at $34,000. Vima LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the first quarter valued at $35,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SQ shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Block from $92.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $87.34.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total value of $430,966.70. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 264,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,125,895.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total transaction of $430,966.70. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 264,697 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,125,895.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,007.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company's stock.

Block Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SQ traded up $0.37 during trading on Monday, hitting $67.83. 5,283,720 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,351,670. The company has a market cap of $41.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.49. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $64.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.85 and a 52 week high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.27 billion. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.