New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

New York State Common Retirement Fund decreased its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 95.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 471,469 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 9,526,961 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Block were worth $36,468,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SQ. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Block by 72.3% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 610 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Block by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. now owns 616 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 89.6% during the third quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 635 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 67,500.0% during the third quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 676 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 38.4% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 728 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,790,374.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 2,581 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total transaction of $165,958.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 201,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,972,782.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 68,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,790,374.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 363,801 shares of company stock valued at $27,284,175 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SQ. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 26th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Block from $76.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Block from $77.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.67.

Block Stock Down 1.6 %

SQ stock opened at $74.02 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 442.41, a PEG ratio of 2.27 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 one year low of $38.85 and a one year high of $87.52. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $77.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.86.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion during 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 1.02 EPS for the current 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.