Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Shares Sold by Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,159 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 972 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Block were worth $631,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Block by 3,525.7% in the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $459,072,000 after purchasing an additional 5,771,310 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in Block in the third quarter valued at about $172,001,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in shares of Block by 72.8% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 2,683,346 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $118,765,000 after acquiring an additional 1,130,925 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Block by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 11,887,628 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $919,508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,514 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Block by 396.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,228,886 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $54,390,000 after acquiring an additional 981,320 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Block Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:SQ opened at $73.50 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $77.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.06, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 2.57. 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.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.07%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on SQ. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Mizuho raised their price target on Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price (down from $62.00) on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total value of $7,679,410.08. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,796,849.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 4,170 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.84, for a total value of $328,762.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 193,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,231,257.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 477,469 shares of company stock worth $34,963,585 in the last quarter. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.