Vestor Capital LLC Purchases New Position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Vestor Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 203,432 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $15,735,000. Block comprises 1.5% of Vestor Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Block by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,915,658 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,545,367,000 after purchasing an additional 585,801 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC grew 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 worth $919,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,514 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Block by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 10,377,973 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $802,736,000 after acquiring an additional 75,161 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its position in shares of Block by 3,525.7% during the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $459,072,000 after acquiring an additional 5,771,310 shares during the period. Finally, Bares Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Block by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,399,425 shares of the technology company's stock worth $194,719,000 after buying an additional 11,376 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company's stock.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE SQ traded down $1.88 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $71.32. The company had a trading volume of 5,686,124 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,966,154. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.78. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52. The firm has a market cap of $43.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 2.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Block (NYSE:SQ - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a return on equity of 2.04% and a net margin of 2.18%. The business had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.69 billion. Equities analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total value of $7,679,410.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 603,861 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 4,170 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.84, for a total value of $328,762.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 193,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,231,257.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,796,849.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 477,469 shares of company stock worth $34,963,585 over the last ninety days. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on SQ shares. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $60.00 target price (down from $62.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. William Blair reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Block from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $87.55.

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.

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