Brian Grassadonia Sells 113,668 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Stock

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 603,861 shares in the company, valued at $40,796,849.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Brian Grassadonia also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, April 3rd, Brian Grassadonia sold 4,514 shares of Block stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.41, for a total transaction of $353,942.74.
• On Monday, April 1st, Brian Grassadonia sold 111,666 shares of Block stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.73, for a total transaction of $9,238,128.18.
• On Monday, March 4th, Brian Grassadonia sold 111,914 shares of Block stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.17, for a total transaction of $8,748,317.38.
• On Tuesday, February 20th, Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of Block stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SQ opened at $69.47 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.85 and a 12 month high of $87.52. The stock has a market cap of $42.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.57. 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $77.63 and a 200 day moving average of $68.16.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a net margin of 2.18% and a return on equity of 2.07%. The business had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Block from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $88.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.42.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SQ. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Block during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $528,996,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in Block by 3,525.7% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $459,072,000 after purchasing an additional 5,771,310 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new stake in Block during the third quarter valued at approximately $172,001,000. Trivest Advisors Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 4th quarter worth approximately $157,021,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,799,505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,277,043 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.