Brian Grassadonia Sells 1,983 Shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock

Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,983 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.52, for a total value of $135,875.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 518,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,516,040.12. The trade was a 0.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Brian Grassadonia also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, January 2nd, Brian Grassadonia sold 1,038 shares of Block stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total transaction of $66,411.24.
• On Monday, November 24th, Brian Grassadonia sold 8,085 shares of Block stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $500,946.60.
• On Friday, November 21st, Brian Grassadonia sold 6,460 shares of Block stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $396,644.00.
• On Wednesday, October 8th, Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of Block stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $2,811,600.00.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $71.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $43.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.42, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 2.66. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.27 and a 52-week high of $94.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company’s 50 day moving average is $65.25 and its 200 day moving average is $71.45.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.29. Block had a return on equity of 5.54% and a net margin of 12.99%.The company had revenue of $6.11 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on XYZ shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.94.

Institutional Trading of Block

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Block by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,626,485 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,887,366,000 after buying an additional 12,709,824 shares during the period. Sands Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Block by 12.2% in the third quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 11,603,057 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $838,553,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262,317 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Block by 192.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,296,224 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $816,378,000 after purchasing an additional 7,436,380 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $634,721,000. Finally, Dragoneer Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in Block in the second quarter worth about $627,233,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Block Company Profile

Block (NYSE:XYZ) is a financial technology company that builds products and services to facilitate electronic payments, commerce, and consumer finance. Its principal business lines include a seller-focused ecosystem that provides point-of-sale hardware and software, payment processing, invoicing, payroll and lending services, and a consumer-facing platform that offers peer-to-peer payments, banking-like features, and investing. Block’s portfolio also encompasses music streaming and buy-now-pay-later capabilities through businesses acquired to broaden its reach beyond core payments.

The company was founded as Square in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and later rebranded to Block to reflect a diversified set of businesses across payments, consumer finance, and emerging technologies.