Forum Financial Management LP Raises Stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Forum Financial Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,010 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the quarter. Forum Financial Management LP’s holdings in Block were worth $452,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the fourth quarter valued at about $112,000,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the fourth quarter valued at about $75,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Block by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 6,439 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $498,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of Block by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 16,720 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,293,000 after buying an additional 1,897 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Block by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 145,365 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,244,000 after buying an additional 10,921 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $121,594.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 590,761 shares in the company, valued at $38,027,285.57. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,889 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $121,594.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 590,761 shares in the company, valued at $38,027,285.57. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,406 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.70, for a total value of $90,968.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 90,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,885,112. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of SQ stock opened at $66.07 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $64.27 and a 200 day moving average of $69.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.81, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.52. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.85 and a 52 week high of $87.52.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $6.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.27 billion. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SQ. Citigroup upped their price target on Block from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Block from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Macquarie reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.52.

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.