DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Buys 14,163 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ - Free Report) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 541,204 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,163 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned approximately 0.09% of Block worth $35,969,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SQ. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Block in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at $34,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on SQ shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $88.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $88.79.

Block Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of SQ stock traded down $1.27 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $73.21. 4,496,263 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,963,513. 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's fifty day simple moving average is $67.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.87. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $38.85 and a 12-month high of $87.52. The stock has a market cap of $45.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.08, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.49.

Block (NYSE:SQ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.27 billion. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. Block's quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Roelof Botha bought 434,405 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 434,405 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,000,007.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,328 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.77, for a total transaction of $539,404.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 580,086 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,572,170.22. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Roelof Botha purchased 434,405 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 434,405 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,000,007.75. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,214 shares of company stock valued at $1,637,932. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.