Park Avenue Securities LLC Buys New Stake in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 10,910 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $788,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. SouthState Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,101 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $70,441.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 271,864 shares in the company, valued at $17,393,858.72. This represents a 0.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.52, for a total transaction of $135,875.16. Following the transaction, the insider owned 518,331 shares in the company, valued at $35,516,040.12. The trade was a 0.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,395,943. 10.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Block Trading Down 2.6%

XYZ stock opened at $65.53 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $64.70 and its 200 day moving average is $71.57. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.27 and a 12-month high of $94.25. The stock has a market cap of $39.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.21, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 2.66. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.53 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on XYZ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Block from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Three research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.82.

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.