Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC Acquires Shares of 17,517 Block, Inc. $XYZ

Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 17,517 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,266,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. acquired a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,730,489,000. Sands Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $702,446,000. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Block in the second quarter valued at $634,721,000. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Block during the second quarter worth about $627,233,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $535,305,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Block Trading Up 1.9%

Block stock opened at $50.73 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $62.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.32. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.27 and a 12 month high of $85.55. The stock has a market cap of $30.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 2.67.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on XYZ shares. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Block from $105.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.97.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other Block news, insider Arnaud Weber sold 7,095 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 259,136 shares in the company, valued at $15,910,950.40. This represents a 2.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,959 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 3.52% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 54,796 shares of company stock worth $3,395,943 over the last three months. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.