Swiss National Bank Acquires 563,700 Shares of Square Inc (NYSE:SQ)

Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Square Inc (NYSE:SQ) by 154.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 929,100 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 563,700 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.24% of Square worth $32,212,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Square by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Schwab Charles Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,166 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,084,000 after buying an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Square by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 11,706 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 921 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Square by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 10,251 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 1,724 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Square by 19.9% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 12,521 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 2,075 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in Square by 15.2% in the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 18,042 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $520,000 after acquiring an additional 2,382 shares in the last quarter. 52.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Shares of Square Inc (NYSE:SQ) opened at $46.02 on Monday. Square Inc has a 12-month low of $16.11 and a 12-month high of $49.56. The company has a market cap of $18,240.30, a PE ratio of -287.63 and a beta of 4.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.83.

Square (NYSE:SQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The technology company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.01. Square had a negative net margin of 2.84% and a negative return on equity of 6.60%. The business had revenue of $616.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $601.63 million. sell-side analysts anticipate that Square Inc will post -0.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SQ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Square from $26.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Square to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 16th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Square from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and raised their target price for the company from $12.38 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday, November 27th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up previously from $35.00) on shares of Square in a research note on Monday, November 6th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Square from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $42.56.

In other news, Director James Morgan Jr. Mckelvey sold 400,000 shares of Square stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.66, for a total value of $18,264,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 468,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,369,793.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jack Dorsey sold 50,000 shares of Square stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.42, for a total transaction of $1,921,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,524,105 shares of company stock valued at $61,887,096 in the last quarter. 32.68% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Square:

Square, Inc (Square) is a commerce ecosystem. The Company enables its sellers start, run and grow their businesses. It combines software with hardware to enable sellers to turn mobile devices and computing devices into payments and point-of-sale solutions. Once a seller downloads the Square Point of Sale mobile application, they can take their first payment.

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Source : https://stocknewstimes.com/2018/03/05/swiss-national-bank-raises-holdings-in-square-inc-sq.html

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