Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 11,096 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $802,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd bought a new position in shares of Block during the third quarter valued at approximately $5,383,000. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,055,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $415,575,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,628,000. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Block during the third quarter valued at $6,690,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Block Stock Up 2.7%

XYZ stock opened at $66.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $40.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.18. The business’s 50-day moving average is $64.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.39. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $94.25.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

XYZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Citigroup raised shares of Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Block from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.97.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Arnaud Weber sold 7,095 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $435,633.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 259,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,910,950.40. The trade was a 2.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 10,417 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total value of $639,603.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 243,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,953,356. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 54,796 shares of company stock worth $3,395,943 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Block 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.