Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Purchases 790 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,189 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 790 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Block were worth $3,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SQ. Front Row Advisors LLC boosted its position in Block by 67,500.0% during the 3rd quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 676 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Block by 38.4% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 728 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in Block in the third quarter worth about $44,000. CNB Bank lifted its position in shares of Block by 40.2% during the third quarter. CNB Bank now owns 1,046 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 72.3% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 610 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Trading Down 2.6 %

NYSE:SQ traded down $1.93 on Tuesday, reaching $71.60. 6,564,728 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,145,699. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 2.57. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $87.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The business has a fifty day moving average of $77.61 and a 200-day moving average of $68.53.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. Block had a return on equity of 2.07% and a net margin of 2.18%. As a group, analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 2,581 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total transaction of $165,958.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 201,754 shares in the company, valued at $12,972,782.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 477,469 shares of company stock worth $34,963,585 over the last three months. Insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on SQ. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Block from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price target on Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Block from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.55.

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.