Twin Capital Management Inc. Invests $1.20 Million in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Twin Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 15,467 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,196,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SQ. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in shares of Block by 3,525.7% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $459,072,000 after buying an additional 5,771,310 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Block in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $353,954,000. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block in the third quarter valued at approximately $172,001,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in Block by 72.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,130,925 shares during the period. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC increased its position 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 valued at $919,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,514 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total transaction of $42,180.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,425,318.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 2,581 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total transaction of $165,958.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 201,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,972,782.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $42,180.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,425,318.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 363,801 shares of company stock worth $27,284,175. Corporate insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on SQ. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Block from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Block from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price (down previously from $62.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.22.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SQ opened at $72.05 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.85. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.85 and a 1-year high of $87.52. The stock has a market cap of $44.36 billion, a PE ratio of 432.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 2.55.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a return on equity of 0.63% and a net margin of 0.04%. The business had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.02 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.