Ardmore Road Asset Management LP Invests $37.36 Million in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Ardmore Road Asset Management LP bought a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 550,000 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,362,000. Block makes up about 3.1% of Ardmore Road Asset Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of XYZ. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. SouthState Corp acquired a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter worth $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at $31,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on XYZ shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $86.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Zacks Research lowered Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Block from $58.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,959 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total value of $611,482.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 272,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,760,051. This trade represents a 3.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $2,811,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 535,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,871,680. This trade represents a 6.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 99,198 shares of company stock worth $6,968,155. Corporate insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $61.02 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market capitalization of $37.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 2.65. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $98.99. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.90.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. Block had a return on equity of 5.54% and a net margin of 12.99%.The firm had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share 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.