Bank of Montreal Can Boosts Position in Square, Inc. (SQ)

Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Square, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) by 15.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 207,054 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 27,603 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Square were worth $11,612,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in Square by 4.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,193,288 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $712,207,000 after purchasing an additional 275,166 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd grew its stake in Square by 75.2% in the third quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 2,965,450 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $293,609,000 after purchasing an additional 1,272,790 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Square by 11.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,772,690 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $175,514,000 after purchasing an additional 175,100 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Square by 87.2% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,549,633 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $153,429,000 after purchasing an additional 721,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Square by 85.5% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,450,154 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $143,579,000 after purchasing an additional 668,394 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 48.10% of the company’s stock.

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SQ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Square from $77.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 8th. Credit Suisse Group raised their price target on Square from $81.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 10th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Square in a research note on Thursday, October 11th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Canaccord Genuity upgraded Square from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $60.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Friday, October 12th. Finally, SunTrust Banks raised their price target on Square to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 17th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.55.

NYSE:SQ opened at $71.35 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $29.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -713.50, a PEG ratio of 33.58 and a beta of 3.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. Square, Inc. has a 1-year low of $36.76 and a 1-year high of $101.15.

Square (NYSE:SQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $431.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $414.19 million. Square had a negative return on equity of 1.11% and a negative net margin of 0.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 67.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.07 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Square, Inc. will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current year.

In related news, Director Mary G. Meeker sold 11,719 shares of Square stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.43, for a total transaction of $837,088.17. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jack Dorsey sold 103,035 shares of Square stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.51, for a total value of $7,368,032.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,115,187 shares of company stock valued at $138,610,068. 27.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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Square Company 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.

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