State of Alaska Department of Revenue Takes Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 59,182 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,277,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. S Bank Fund Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $92,000. Praxis Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $508,000. Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,105,000. SilverOak Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $218,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA purchased a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $94,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Down 0.8%

XYZ opened at $69.58 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.18 and a quick ratio of 2.18. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.27 and a 12 month high of $94.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 2.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.58.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on XYZ. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Block from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Mizuho lifted their target price on Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of Block from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $500,946.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 521,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,302,969.92. The trade was a 1.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,959 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $611,482.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 272,965 shares in the company, valued at $16,760,051. The trade was a 3.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,796 shares of company stock worth $3,395,943. Insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Block Company 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.