Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 97,720 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,560,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SQ. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Block by 0.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,511,250 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,088,122,000 after purchasing an additional 318,549 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Block by 4.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,096,614 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,107,712,000 after buying an additional 582,826 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of Block by 45.7% during the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 10,085,229 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $650,396,000 after buying an additional 3,163,975 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Block by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 7,670,523 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $494,672,000 after acquiring an additional 934,588 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Block by 17.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,157,733 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $139,143,000 after acquiring an additional 326,444 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on SQ. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Block from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. William Blair upgraded Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Macquarie reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,884 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total value of $123,232.44. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 574,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,605,124.74. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Block news, Director Roelof Botha acquired 434,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $57.55 per share, for a total transaction of $25,000,007.75. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 434,405 shares in the company, valued at $25,000,007.75. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,884 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.41, for a total value of $123,232.44. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 574,914 shares in the company, valued at $37,605,124.74. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,214 shares of company stock worth $1,637,932 in the last ninety days. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Block Price Performance

Shares of Block stock opened at $72.61 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 2.49. The company has a fifty day moving average of $67.09 and a 200-day moving average of $67.15. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.85 and a 52-week high of $87.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.09. Block had a return on equity of 3.77% and a net margin of 3.47%. The firm had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.27 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.71 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.