Block, Inc. $XYZ Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 10.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,682,836 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 323,539 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.44% of Block worth $193,889,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, 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 directly owned 271,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,393,858.72. This represents a 0.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,608 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $221,531.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 123,198 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,357.20. This represents a 2.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 54,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,395,943 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

XYZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Block from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 21st. BNP Paribas raised shares of 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. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, November 20th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Block from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.94.

Block Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:XYZ opened at $70.25 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.18. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $64.97 and its 200-day moving average is $71.61. The company has a market cap of $42.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 2.66. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.27 and a 52-week high of $94.25.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $6.11 billion during the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 5.54% and a net margin of 12.99%.Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current 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.