E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB Makes New Investment in Block, Inc. $XYZ

E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB bought a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 13,624 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $887,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its stake in shares of Block by 24.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 179,271 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $12,956,000 after acquiring an additional 34,678 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd bought a new position in Block during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,383,000. New York Life Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Block during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,400,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Block by 2,385.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 612,358 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $44,255,000 after purchasing an additional 587,719 shares during the period. Finally, Hartford Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in Block during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,323,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XYZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Friday, February 27th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Block from $105.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.91.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $59.93 on Thursday. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.27 and a 12 month high of $82.50. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.29. The firm has a market cap of $35.90 billion, a PE ratio of 28.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 2.65. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,101 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $70,441.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 271,864 shares in the company, valued at $17,393,858.72. This trade represents a 0.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,173 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,405,637.08. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,720. Corporate insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

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.