Teacher Retirement System of Texas Decreases Stock Holdings in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Teacher Retirement System of Texas reduced its position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 14.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 72,703 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 12,229 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Block were worth $5,254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. Covenant Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Block during the third quarter valued at $254,000. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC raised its position in shares of Block by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 4,739 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,055,000. Finally, Inscription Capital LLC purchased a new position in Block in the third quarter worth about $216,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Block news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 822 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total transaction of $52,591.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 242,718 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,529,097.64. The trade was a 0.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,608 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total value of $221,531.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 123,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,564,357.20. This represents a 2.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,395,943. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $94.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.09.

Block Stock Performance

XYZ stock opened at $65.88 on Tuesday. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $94.25. The firm has a market cap of $40.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.28, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.66. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

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

About Block

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.