Yousif Capital Management LLC Purchases 257 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,439 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $498,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its stake in Block by 3,525.7% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $459,072,000 after acquiring an additional 5,771,310 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter valued at about $172,001,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in Block by 72.8% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 2,683,346 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $118,765,000 after buying an additional 1,130,925 shares in the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Block by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 11,887,628 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $919,508,000 after buying an additional 1,000,514 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Block by 396.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,228,886 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $54,390,000 after buying an additional 981,320 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total value of $8,364,510.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total value of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at $26,521,910.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 477,469 shares of company stock worth $34,963,585. 10.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on SQ shares. Mizuho boosted 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. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Block from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective (down from $62.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Block from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.42.

Block Price Performance

SQ opened at $69.47 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $77.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.33. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.85 and a twelve month high of $87.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market capitalization of $42.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.22, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 2.57.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.07%. The business had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. Equities analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.29 EPS for the current year.

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.