Chrysty Esperanza Sells 3,000 Shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock

Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $225,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 268,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,112,675. The trade was a 1.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Block Stock Performance

Block stock traded up $0.72 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $72.47. 3,466,731 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,937,180. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.27 and a 12 month high of $82.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 2.20. The business has a 50 day moving average of $60.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 2.61.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Block

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Block by 3.2% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,439 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Block by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 853 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Block by 57.1% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted 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 buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Block by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 707 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup lowered their target price on Block from $105.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. HSBC raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Block from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Block from $78.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.67.

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.