Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Insider Sells $367,345.30 in Stock

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) insider Brian Grassadonia sold 5,155 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $367,345.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 599,150 shares in the company, valued at $42,695,429. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Brian Grassadonia also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, May 1st, Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of Block stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08.
• On Wednesday, April 3rd, Brian Grassadonia sold 4,514 shares of Block stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.41, for a total transaction of $353,942.74.
• On Monday, April 1st, Brian Grassadonia sold 111,666 shares of Block stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.73, for a total value of $9,238,128.18.
• On Monday, March 4th, Brian Grassadonia sold 111,914 shares of Block stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.17, for a total value of $8,748,317.38.

Block Stock Down 0.4 %

SQ opened at $66.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 1.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $75.19 and a 200-day moving average of $70.98. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52. The company has a market capitalization of $40.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 2.57.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.75 billion. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.04%. On average, equities analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SQ shares. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.59.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SQ. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Block by 100.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 32,843 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,778,000 after purchasing an additional 16,492 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Block by 194.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 104,642 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,851,000 after buying an additional 69,146 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its holdings in Block by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 58,991 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,989,000 after buying an additional 8,926 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,842,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.