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

Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) insider Brian Grassadonia sold 113,668 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $7,679,410.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 603,861 shares in the company, valued at $40,796,849.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 Stock Performance

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 company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.77 billion, a PE ratio of 90.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $77.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.16.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on SQ. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target (down from $62.00) on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Wolfe Research upped their price objective on shares of Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen upped 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.42.

Institutional Trading of Block

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Block by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,192,701 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,799,505,000 after buying an additional 1,277,043 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Block by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,513,788 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $967,942,000 after buying an additional 212,218 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Block by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 11,887,628 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $919,508,000 after buying an additional 1,000,514 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Block by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 10,377,973 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $802,736,000 after buying an additional 75,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. grew its stake in Block by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 8,982,862 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $694,735,000 after buying an additional 71,735 shares during the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is 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.