Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Shares Purchased by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 16.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 775,835 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 106,893 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Block were worth $65,512,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SQ. Wedmont Private Capital purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the fourth quarter worth approximately $228,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Block by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 37,424 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,901,000 after acquiring an additional 2,872 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the 4th quarter worth $244,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $489,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its stake in shares of Block by 83.5% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 17,568 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after acquiring an additional 7,996 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $175,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 92,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,443,360. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,278 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.26, for a total transaction of $91,070.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 93,337 shares in the company, valued at $6,651,194.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $175,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 92,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,443,360. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 138,173 shares of company stock valued at $9,363,222. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SQ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Block from $99.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Block from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Block from $82.00 to $74.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.33.

Block Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of SQ stock traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $68.10. 5,161,385 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,055,199. The stock has a market cap of $42.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.44, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 2.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.60.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The technology company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.75 billion. Block had a return on equity of 2.04% and a net margin of 2.18%. Equities analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Block 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.