Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Reduces Stock Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 205,221 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 26,621 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $14,831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of XYZ. S Bank Fund Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $92,000. Praxis Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Block in the second quarter worth about $508,000. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,105,000. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $218,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA purchased a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $94,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on XYZ. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, November 24th. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Block from $96.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. Compass Point raised shares of Block from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 822 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $52,591.56. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 242,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,529,097.64. This represents a 0.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,173 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.09, for a total value of $76,350.57. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 98,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,405,637.08. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,796 shares of company stock worth $3,395,943. 10.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Block Stock Performance

XYZ stock opened at $69.58 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a one year low of $44.27 and a one year high of $94.25. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.53. 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 $42.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.03, a PEG ratio of 1.28 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 the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. Block had a return on equity of 5.54% and a net margin of 12.99%.The firm had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.