Blair William & Co. IL Acquires Shares of 277,645 Block, Inc. $XYZ

Blair William & Co. IL bought a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 277,645 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,065,000.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,101 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total transaction of $70,441.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 271,864 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,393,858.72. This represents a 0.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,173 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.09, for a total value of $76,350.57. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,720. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of Block stock opened at $66.54 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $40.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.69, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 2.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.76. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.27 and a 52-week high of $82.50.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.39. The company 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 company’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on XYZ shares. Compass Point raised shares of Block from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. HSBC upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.