Arizona State Retirement System Sells 12,773 Shares of Block, Inc. $XYZ

Arizona State Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 151,328 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 12,773 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Block were worth $9,850,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of XYZ. Baird Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Block during the second quarter worth $1,866,000. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Block during the second quarter worth $516,000. Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Block during the second quarter worth $385,000. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in Block during the second quarter worth $53,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the second quarter worth $1,861,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Arete Research upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Block from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Block from $78.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.78.

Block Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:XYZ opened at $71.70 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $82.50. 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $61.37 and its 200-day moving average is $64.59. The company has a market capitalization of $42.96 billion, a PE ratio of 34.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 2.61.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The company had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Block

In related news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $225,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 268,169 shares in the company, valued at $20,112,675. This represents a 1.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total transaction of $225,422.55. Following the transaction, 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 49,725 shares of company stock worth $3,401,393 in the last 90 days. Corporate 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.