Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. Lowers Stock Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Amova Asset Management Americas Inc. cut its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 25.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,826,639 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 943,923 shares during the period. Block makes up approximately 2.0% of Amova Asset Management Americas Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Amova Asset Management Americas Inc.’s holdings in Block were worth $204,253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. City Holding Co. bought a new position in Block in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Block during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Trading Up 3.8%

Shares of XYZ opened at $65.31 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.69 billion, a PE ratio of 31.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 2.65. The company’s fifty day moving average is $61.20 and its 200 day moving average is $67.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.20. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $82.50.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $52,591.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 242,718 shares in the company, valued at $15,529,097.64. This trade represents a 0.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,173 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.09, for a total transaction of $76,350.57. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 98,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,405,637.08. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,797 shares of company stock valued at $940,298. Insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on XYZ. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, December 29th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Zacks Research cut shares of Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Compass Point raised shares of Block from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.79.

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.