SG Americas Securities LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Block, Inc. $XYZ

SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 1,281.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 301,521 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 279,701 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $19,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Block by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,439 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in Block by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 853 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Block by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 21,183 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,561,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. Vista Investment Partners II LLC lifted its position in Block by 3.6% during the third quarter. Vista Investment Partners II LLC now owns 5,334 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC grew its holdings in Block by 59.7% during the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 495 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $517,450.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 503,784 shares in the company, valued at $25,189,200. This trade represents a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total transaction of $225,422.55. Following the transaction, the insider owned 231,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,664,323.42. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,720. Corporate insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XYZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Truist Financial raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $77.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Block from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.91.

Block Price Performance

Shares of Block stock opened at $56.07 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.70, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 2.65. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.11. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 6.66% and a net margin of 5.40%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Block Company 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.