Achmea Investment Management B.V. Buys 2,000 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Achmea Investment Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 1.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 121,223 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V.’s holdings in Block were worth $7,817,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its holdings in Block by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 9,567 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $740,000 after buying an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Block by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,724,520 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $133,436,000 after acquiring an additional 334,877 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Block during the fourth quarter worth about $349,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Block by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 253,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,586,000 after purchasing an additional 17,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its stake in Block by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 28,252 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,185,000 after purchasing an additional 2,111 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $30,318.27. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 92,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,977,784.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 471 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $30,318.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 92,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,977,784.42. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $121,594.93. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 590,761 shares in the company, valued at $38,027,285.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 28,179 shares of company stock worth $1,833,962. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on SQ shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $88.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group reduced their target price on Block from $100.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Block from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.34.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of SQ stock opened at $63.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.82. Block, Inc. has a one year low of $38.85 and a one year high of $87.52. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.21 billion, a PE ratio of 82.72, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 2.49.

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