Lbp Am Sa Takes $1.30 Million Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Lbp Am Sa purchased a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 18,000 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,301,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in XYZ. Vanguard Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,730,489,000. Sands Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Block in the second quarter worth $702,446,000. Geode Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Block during the second quarter worth $634,721,000. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC bought a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at $627,233,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at $535,305,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Block Stock Down 2.0%

Block stock opened at $64.59 on Wednesday. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $94.25. The firm has a market cap of $39.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 2.66. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $64.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. The business 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%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on XYZ. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.09.

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,608 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total value of $221,531.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 123,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,564,357.20. The trade was a 2.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,173 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 98,412 shares in the company, valued at $6,405,637.08. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 54,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,395,943 in the last quarter. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.