SouthState Corp Buys 180 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

SouthState Corp increased its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 85.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 391 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Block were worth $26,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SQ. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Block in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Unique Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at about $44,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Block in the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at about $49,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 5,935 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.53, for a total transaction of $388,920.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 255,496 shares in the company, valued at $16,742,652.88. The trade was a 2.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.00, for a total value of $33,500.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 90,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,060,820. This represents a 0.55 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,283 shares of company stock worth $862,773 over the last quarter. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SQ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Block from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. New Street Research initiated coverage on Block in a research note on Monday, September 9th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Macquarie reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.18.

Block Price Performance

Shares of SQ opened at $89.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $55.59 billion, a PE ratio of 50.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 2.48. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.00 and a 52-week high of $93.00. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $72.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.07 and a current ratio of 2.07.

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.