Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Invests $1.96 Million in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System purchased a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 27,148 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,962,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XYZ. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. City Holding Co. bought a new position in Block in the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC bought a new position in Block in the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, SouthState Corp purchased a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Block from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Zacks Research cut shares of Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Block from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.97.

Insider Activity

In other Block news, insider Arnaud Weber sold 7,095 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $435,633.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 259,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,910,950.40. This trade represents a 2.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,959 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total value of $611,482.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 272,965 shares in the company, valued at $16,760,051. The trade was a 3.52% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 54,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,395,943 over the last quarter. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Down 5.0%

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $62.65 on Wednesday. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.27 and a 1-year high of $94.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.18 and a quick ratio of 2.18. The company has a market cap of $38.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 2.66. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $64.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.48.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $6.11 billion during the quarter. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 5.54%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.