42,310 Shares in Block, Inc. $XYZ Bought by AIA Group Ltd

AIA Group Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 42,310 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,058,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,730,489,000. Sands Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $702,446,000. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $627,233,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $535,305,000. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $515,857,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Block news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 231,262 shares in the company, valued at $14,664,323.42. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,173 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.09, for a total transaction of $76,350.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 98,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,405,637.08. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,720. 10.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of XYZ opened at $58.99 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.27 and a 52-week high of $82.50. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 2.65.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share 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 during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XYZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $77.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Arete Research raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Friday, February 27th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Block from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.14.

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.