First Trust Advisors LP Has $38.33 Million Stock Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its holdings in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 26.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 530,340 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 194,237 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.09% of Block worth $38,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Activity at Block

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $517,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 503,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,189,200. The trade was a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 20,352 shares of company stock worth $1,165,720 over the last quarter. 10.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Block Trading Down 7.4%

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $59.83 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.53. The company has a market cap of $36.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.49, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 2.65.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Compass Point upgraded Block from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Raymond James Financial upgraded Block to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Block from $105.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently 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.