M&T Bank Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

M&T Bank Corp trimmed its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 21.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 27,975 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 7,570 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Block were worth $2,164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $1,545,367,000 after acquiring an additional 585,801 shares in the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,000,514 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 75,161 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased 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 purchasing an additional 5,771,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bares Capital Management Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 11,376 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Block Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE SQ opened at $71.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 2.57. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.85 and a 1-year high of $87.52. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $77.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.73.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a return on equity of 2.07% and a net margin of 2.18%. The company had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Block from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial upped 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. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective (down previously from $62.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, BTIG Research raised Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at $26,521,910.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total value of $42,375.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,790,374.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total value of $8,364,510.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at $26,521,910.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 477,469 shares of company stock worth $34,963,585. 10.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.