Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 27,677.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,500 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,491 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings in Block were worth $199,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SQ. Capital Impact Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Block by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital Impact Advisors LLC now owns 5,401 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Block by 38.7% during the 4th quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 616 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Block by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 6,328 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $489,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Block by 38.4% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 728 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Partners II LLC grew its position in shares of Block by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 4,085 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on SQ shares. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $88.00 target price (up from $86.00) on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of Block from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Block from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at $5,790,374.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.75, for a total transaction of $42,375.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,323 shares in the company, valued at $5,790,374.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 127,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.45, for a total transaction of $8,364,510.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 405,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,521,910.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 363,801 shares of company stock worth $27,284,175. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Block Price Performance

Shares of SQ opened at $72.05 on Friday. 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. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.85 and a fifty-two week high of $87.52. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.85.

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