Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Invests $5.15 Million in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 75,868 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,154,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SouthState Corp acquired a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $82.00 price target on Block and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Block from $58.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Block from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Block from $77.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Macquarie raised their target price on Block from $50.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.58.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 10,424 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total value of $763,036.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 263,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,288,712.40. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,966 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.20, for a total value of $729,511.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 298,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,845,149.20. This trade represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 119,041 shares of company stock worth $9,052,531 over the last quarter. 10.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Block Price Performance

XYZ opened at $65.49 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $75.80 and a 200-day moving average of $69.78. The company has a market capitalization of $39.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.20, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 2.73. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.27 and a 1-year high of $99.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 1.96.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 8.49%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Block

Square, Inc provides payment and point-of-sale solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's commerce ecosystem includes point-of-sale software and hardware that enables sellers to turn mobile and computing devices into payment and point-of-sale solutions. It offers hardware products, including Magstripe reader, which enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Contactless and chip reader that accepts EMV® chip cards and Near Field Communication payments; Chip card reader, which accepts EMV® chip cards and enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Square Stand, which enables an iPad to be used as a payment terminal or full point of sale solution; and Square Register that combines its hardware, point-of-sale software, and payments technology, as well as managed payments solutions.