Block (NYSE:XYZ) Insider Sells $52,591.56 in Stock

Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total transaction of $52,591.56. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 242,718 shares in the company, valued at $15,529,097.64. The trade was a 0.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Owen Britton Jennings also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, November 21st, Owen Britton Jennings sold 10,417 shares of Block stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $639,603.80.

Block Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE:XYZ opened at $70.15 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $94.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $65.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.45. 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 firm has a market cap of $42.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 2.66.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 5.54% and a net margin of 12.99%.Block’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on XYZ shares. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Block from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Block from $58.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Block from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $94.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.94.

Institutional Trading of Block

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Block by 38.3% in the 4th quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,628 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $431,000 after buying an additional 1,835 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Block by 7,781.6% during the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 2,995 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $195,000 after acquiring an additional 2,957 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 30.5% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,592 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 1,072 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Block by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 53,887 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,532,000 after purchasing an additional 2,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Everhart Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Block by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,339 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.