Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Block (NYSE:XYZ)

Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors bought 42,885 call options on the company. This is an increase of 102% compared to the typical volume of 21,233 call options.

Block Price Performance

NYSE:XYZ traded up $11.53 on Wednesday, hitting $87.53. The company had a trading volume of 7,703,671 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,131,074. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block has a 52 week low of $48.21 and a 52 week high of $88.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 155.94, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 2.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $77.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.18.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The technology company reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $6.72 billion during the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 1.43%. Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.54 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Block will post 2.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Key Stories Impacting Block

Here are the key news stories impacting Block this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Block reported third-quarter earnings of $1.13 per share, up from $0.54 a year earlier, and revenue of $6.72 billion, up 9.9%. The company also raised its full-year profit outlook, citing Cash App strength; Square’s U.S. payment-volume growth accelerated. Reuters: Block raises full-year profit outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts raised targets: Susquehanna to $110 and Bank of America to $117, with positive and buy ratings, respectively. Needham reaffirmed its buy rating and $100 target. These moves suggest analysts see further upside. Susquehanna recommendations Bank of America recommendations
• Neutral Sentiment: Citizens JMP reaffirmed its “market perform” rating, signaling a more cautious view than the recent target increases. Citizens JMP recommendations
• Negative Sentiment: Block expects to pay about $764 million to settle a Justice Department money-laundering-controls probe. The company has reserved funds, but uncertainty about whether the reserve will cover the settlement—and scrutiny of compliance controls—could weigh on investor sentiment. Report on DOJ probe and expected settlement

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, Director Anthony Eisen sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.44, for a total value of $446,640.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,212,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $90,271,303.68. This trade represents a 0.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 232,686 shares of company stock valued at $18,360,227 over the last ninety days. 11.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NovaPoint Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Block by 3.9% in the third quarter. NovaPoint Capital LLC now owns 3,630 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG boosted its holdings in Block by 0.3% in the second quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG now owns 44,901 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,503,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Block by 2.8% during the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 5,885 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Block by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 11,888 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $874,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Block by 3.3% in the second quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,081 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on XYZ. KeyCorp increased their target price on Block from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Block from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Block from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.39.

About Block

Block, Inc is a financial technology company that provides payments, commerce, and financial services through an ecosystem of business and consumer products. Formerly known as Square, the company was co-founded by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and changed its corporate name to Block in 2021.

Its Square ecosystem serves businesses with point-of-sale hardware, payment processing, invoicing, payroll, inventory management, customer engagement, online commerce, and other software tools. Block also offers lending and other financial services to eligible business customers through Square-related products.

For consumers, Block operates Cash App, a mobile financial services platform that supports services such as peer-to-peer payments, money transfers, a Cash App Card, direct deposit, investing, and bitcoin transactions, subject to product and geographic availability.