Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases Shares of 28,800 Block, Inc. $XYZ

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 28,800 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,081,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Block by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,201 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $593,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. City Holding Co. acquired a new position in shares of Block during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, SouthState Corp bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Block Price Performance

NYSE XYZ opened at $69.58 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.27 and a 1 year high of $94.25. The company has a market cap of $42.28 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 2.66. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $65.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.53.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 5.54%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Block currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.94.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,608 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total value of $221,531.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 123,198 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,357.20. This represents a 2.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $52,591.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 242,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,529,097.64. This trade represents a 0.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,796 shares of company stock worth $3,395,943. Insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

About Block

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.