American Century Companies Inc. Decreases Holdings in Block, Inc. $XYZ

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 67.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 758,555 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 1,551,228 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.12% of Block worth $54,821,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. purchased a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,730,489,000. Sands Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $702,446,000. Geode Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $634,721,000. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $627,233,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $535,305,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Up 2.9%

XYZ opened at $67.13 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $82.50. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $61.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.92. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a market cap of $40.79 billion, a PE ratio of 31.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 2.65.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a return on equity of 6.66% and a net margin of 5.40%.The business had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total value of $225,422.55. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 231,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,664,323.42. This trade represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $517,450.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 503,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,189,200. This trade represents a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 20,352 shares of company stock worth $1,165,720 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on XYZ. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Zacks Research cut Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.79.

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.