ABN Amro Investment Solutions Purchases New Shares in Block, Inc. $XYZ

ABN Amro Investment Solutions purchased a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 26,854 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,824,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of XYZ. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $634,721,000. ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $210,016,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. bought a new stake in Block in the second quarter worth about $204,223,000. Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $62,389,000. Finally, National Pension Service bought a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $51,054,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In related news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 406 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total transaction of $30,356.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 126,806 shares in the company, valued at $9,481,284.62. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,276 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.69, for a total transaction of $97,856.44. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 282,924 shares of the company’s stock, 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 115,441 shares of company stock valued at $8,778,247. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Block Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $60.38 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.27 and a 12-month high of $99.26. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.81 billion, a PE ratio of 12.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 2.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Block had a return on equity of 7.41% and a net margin of 12.99%.The firm had revenue of $6.11 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on XYZ. Zacks Research lowered Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. BNP Paribas downgraded Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of Block from $100.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Block from $76.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.36.

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.