Avanza Fonder AB Acquires New Shares in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 10,004 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $651,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Block by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 6,289 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $409,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares during the period. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 4th quarter valued at $926,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Block by 1,281.9% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 301,521 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $19,626,000 after purchasing an additional 279,701 shares in the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Block by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,542 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $556,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ulland Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Block by 38.3% in the 4th quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,628 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 1,835 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 98,412 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,405,637.08. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the firm’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 sale, 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. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,720. Company insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE:XYZ opened at $59.93 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $35.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.54, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 2.65. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $59.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.29. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $82.50.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

XYZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Arete Research raised Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. TD Cowen boosted 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. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Block from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Block has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.91.

Block 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.