Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires New Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 28,800 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,081,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of XYZ. S Bank Fund Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter worth $92,000. Praxis Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $508,000. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,105,000. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA acquired a new position in Block in the second quarter worth approximately $94,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on XYZ. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $94.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Zacks Research cut shares of Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Citigroup raised Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.94.

Block Stock Down 0.8%

XYZ stock opened at $69.58 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 2.66. The company has a 50-day moving average of $65.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.53. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.27 and a 52-week high of $94.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.18 and a quick ratio of 2.18.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS 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 business had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $221,531.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 123,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,357.20. The trade was a 2.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,959 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $611,482.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 272,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,760,051. The trade was a 3.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 54,796 shares of company stock worth $3,395,943. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Block

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.