GAMMA Investing LLC Makes New Investment in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 965 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in Block by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 113,235 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,012,000 after purchasing an additional 2,713 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 276,975 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,259,000 after acquiring an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its holdings in shares of Block by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 113,537 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,025,000 after acquiring an additional 8,800 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 89.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 635 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Block by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 83,911 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,714,000 after acquiring an additional 7,507 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SQ. Mizuho raised their price objective on Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Block from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Block from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.67.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $42,180.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,425,318.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $42,180.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,425,318.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 4,514 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.41, for a total transaction of $353,942.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 477,290 shares in the company, valued at $37,424,308.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 363,801 shares of company stock valued at $27,284,175 over the last three months. 10.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Block Stock Down 3.1 %

NYSE SQ opened at $72.99 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.85 and a 1-year high of $87.52. The company has a 50 day moving average of $77.73 and a 200-day moving average of $67.82. The company has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 443.00, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 2.55.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. Block had a net margin of 0.04% and a return on equity of 0.63%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.