234,432 Shares in Block, Inc. $XYZ Purchased by Advisors Asset Management Inc.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 234,432 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,925,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at $26,000. SouthState Corp bought a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Block Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $61.85 on Tuesday. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $72.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.66. 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 company has a market cap of $37.58 billion, a PE ratio of 12.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 2.73.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $6.11 billion during 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,276 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 282,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,697,441.56. This represents a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.77, for a total value of $78,508.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 253,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,988,290.12. This trade represents a 0.41% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 60,610 shares of company stock valued at $4,739,162. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on XYZ. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 8th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Mizuho increased their target price on Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price target on Block from $75.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $94.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.42.

About Block

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.