Amrita Ahuja Sells 30,919 Shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock

Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 30,919 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $2,318,925.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 500,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,561,200. This trade represents a 5.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:XYZ opened at $69.95 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $82.50. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.73. 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 firm has a market cap of $41.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 2.61.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. Block’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on XYZ. Bank of America decreased their target price on Block from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Block from $78.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Block from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 2nd. Loop Capital assumed coverage on Block in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Arete Research raised Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.67.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Block by 3.2% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,439 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its position in Block by 23.1% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 853 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in Block by 57.1% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Block by 0.8% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 21,183 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,561,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Block by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.