Blair William & Co. IL Invests $20.07 Million in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Blair William & Co. IL bought a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 277,645 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,065,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of XYZ. Cromwell Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Block in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. City Holding Co. bought a new stake in Block during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Block during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the second quarter worth about $26,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,101 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total transaction of $70,441.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 271,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,393,858.72. The trade was a 0.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 $14,664,323.42. This trade represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 20,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,720 over the last ninety days. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Block Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of XYZ opened at $66.54 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 2.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 2.64. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.27 and a 1 year high of $82.50. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.76.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on XYZ shares. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Compass Point raised shares of Block from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Arete Research upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. HSBC raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $77.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $88.00 target price for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.79.

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.