Swiss National Bank Sells 93,700 Shares of Block, Inc. $XYZ

Swiss National Bank decreased its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,599,786 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 93,700 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Block were worth $115,617,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Block by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,626,485 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,887,366,000 after purchasing an additional 12,709,824 shares in the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the second quarter worth approximately $702,446,000. Geode Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $634,721,000. Dragoneer Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $627,233,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $535,305,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $517,450.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 503,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,189,200. The trade was a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,101 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $70,441.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 271,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,393,858.72. The trade was a 0.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 20,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,720 in the last quarter. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

XYZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Block from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $88.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Block to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Block from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.79.

Block Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE XYZ opened at $65.59 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $39.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 2.65. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $82.50. 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 fifty day moving average is $61.22 and its 200 day moving average is $67.60.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS 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.