Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 35.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 65,442 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 35,828 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Block were worth $4,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. SVB Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Block by 5.6% during the first quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 4,960 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $420,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Block by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 13,827 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,169,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Block by 28.3% during the 1st quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,330 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,277 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its position in Block by 587.8% during the 1st quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 14,547 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 12,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the 1st quarter worth $518,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Block

In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total transaction of $33,500.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 90,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,060,820. This represents a 0.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 6,661 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.43, for a total value of $609,015.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 246,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,580,192.81. This represents a 2.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,053 shares of company stock worth $2,393,972 over the last quarter. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SQ shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Block from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $94.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Block from $95.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $88.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.46.

Block Stock Down 1.9 %

NYSE:SQ opened at $89.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.02, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 2.48. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $74.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.32. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.00 and a 1-year high of $94.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 2.07.

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.