Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC Sells 530 Shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ)

Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC cut its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 10.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,739 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 530 shares during the period. Pitti Group Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SQ. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised 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 period. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the third quarter valued at approximately $172,001,000. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its position in Block by 72.8% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 2,683,346 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $118,765,000 after purchasing an additional 1,130,925 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its position 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 valued at $919,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,514 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Block by 396.4% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,228,886 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $54,390,000 after purchasing an additional 981,320 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SQ has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BTIG Research upgraded Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $88.00 price target (up from $86.00) on shares of Block in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on Block from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total transaction of $42,180.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,425,318.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 111,666 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.73, for a total transaction of $9,238,128.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 485,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,177,410.85. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $42,180.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 68,823 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,425,318.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 363,801 shares of company stock valued at $27,284,175. 10.79% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Block Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of Block stock traded up $1.69 during trading on Friday, reaching $74.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,649,162 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,455,119. 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 company has a market cap of $45.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 438.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 2.55. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.85 and a 1-year high of $87.52. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.26.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a return on equity of 0.63% and a net margin of 0.04%. The company had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.69 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

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.