Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Purchases 172 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 38.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 616 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Block were worth $48,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Decatur Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Block by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Decatur Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,783 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $513,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. Eudaimonia Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the 1st quarter worth $387,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth $228,000. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its stake in Block by 31.3% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 25,320 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,616,000 after acquiring an additional 6,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth $516,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Block Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE SQ traded up $1.02 on Thursday, reaching $84.20. The company had a trading volume of 3,354,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,783,913. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.85 and a 1 year high of $87.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $72.55 and a 200-day moving average of $62.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.84 billion, a PE ratio of 492.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 2.55.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a return on equity of 0.63% and a net margin of 0.04%. The company had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Block

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 111,914 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.17, for a total transaction of $8,748,317.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 443,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,705,838.43. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 111,914 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.17, for a total value of $8,748,317.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 443,979 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,705,838.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,525 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.32, for a total value of $113,338.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 69,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,163,679.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 258,056 shares of company stock valued at $18,407,064. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SQ shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Block from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on Block from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday. Finally, BTIG Research upgraded Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.69.

Block 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.