AlphaQuest LLC Buys New Holdings in Block, Inc. $XYZ

AlphaQuest LLC bought a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,046 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XYZ. S Bank Fund Management Ltd acquired a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at $92,000. Praxis Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter worth about $508,000. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter worth about $3,105,000. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter worth about $218,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA acquired a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter worth about $94,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $82.00 price objective on Block and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Block from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price objective (up previously from $79.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Block from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, BTIG Research set a $80.00 target price on Block and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.42.

Insider Activity

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $2,811,600.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 535,896 shares in the company, valued at $42,871,680. This represents a 6.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,276 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.69, for a total value of $97,856.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 282,924 shares in the company, valued at $21,697,441.56. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 119,441 shares of company stock valued at $9,085,327 over the last three months. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $75.91 on Monday. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.27 and a 1 year high of $99.26. The firm has a market cap of $46.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.25, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 2.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.38.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.41. Block had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 12.32%.The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.32 billion. The company’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Block Company Profile

Square, Inc provides payment and point-of-sale solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's commerce ecosystem includes point-of-sale software and hardware that enables sellers to turn mobile and computing devices into payment and point-of-sale solutions. It offers hardware products, including Magstripe reader, which enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Contactless and chip reader that accepts EMV® chip cards and Near Field Communication payments; Chip card reader, which accepts EMV® chip cards and enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Square Stand, which enables an iPad to be used as a payment terminal or full point of sale solution; and Square Register that combines its hardware, point-of-sale software, and payments technology, as well as managed payments solutions.