E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB Acquires Shares of 13,624 Block, Inc. $XYZ

E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB acquired a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 13,624 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $887,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of XYZ. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in shares of Block during the 4th quarter worth approximately $651,000. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. grew its position in Block by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 6,289 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $409,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares during the period. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. acquired a new position in Block during the fourth quarter worth $926,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 1,281.9% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 301,521 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $19,626,000 after acquiring an additional 279,701 shares during the period. Finally, 180 Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,542 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $556,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $517,450.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 503,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,189,200. This trade represents a 2.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,101 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $17,393,858.72. This trade represents a 0.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 20,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,720 in the last three months. Company insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on XYZ shares. Arete Research raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a report on Monday, December 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded shares of Block from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Block from $105.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $77.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.91.

Block Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:XYZ opened at $59.93 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $35.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 2.65. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $59.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.29. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.27 and a 52-week high of $82.50.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released 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 company had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

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.