PFG Investments LLC Buys New Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

PFG Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 16,483 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,191,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Block in the third quarter worth $5,383,000. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at $2,055,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $415,575,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,628,000. Finally, Korea Investment CORP purchased a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter worth $13,937,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a report on Monday, December 29th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Block from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Citigroup raised shares of Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $94.00 price target on shares of Block in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.97.

Block Stock Up 2.7%

XYZ opened at $66.78 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $64.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.46, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 2.66. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $94.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.18.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,173 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.09, for a total value of $76,350.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 98,412 shares in the company, valued at $6,405,637.08. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,983 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.52, for a total value of $135,875.16. Following the transaction, the insider owned 518,331 shares in the company, valued at $35,516,040.12. This trade represents a 0.38% decrease in their position. 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 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

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.