Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Purchases 12,353 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 11,653.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,459 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 12,353 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $964,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Block by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,915,658 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,545,367,000 after purchasing an additional 585,801 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,000,514 shares in the last quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Block by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,399,425 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $194,719,000 after buying an additional 11,376 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter valued at about $172,001,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Block by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,065,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $135,685,000 after buying an additional 59,868 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE:SQ opened at $75.21 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $77.01 and its 200 day moving average is $66.81. 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 capitalization of $46.31 billion, a PE ratio of 414.23, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 2.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $42,180.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,823 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,425,318.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 363,801 shares of company stock worth $27,284,175. Company insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SQ. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Block from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price target (down from $62.00) on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.67.

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.