Owen Britton Jennings Sells 3,555 Shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock

Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total value of $225,422.55. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 231,262 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,664,323.42. This represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Owen Britton Jennings also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, January 2nd, Owen Britton Jennings sold 822 shares of Block stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $52,591.56.

Block Stock Up 2.9%

XYZ stock traded up $1.89 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $67.13. 11,828,995 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,228,104. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.20. The firm has a market cap of $40.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 2.65. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.92. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.27 and a 1-year high of $82.50.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The company had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Raymond James Financial raised Block to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley raised Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Block in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $88.00 price objective on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.79.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. City Holding Co. acquired a new stake in Block in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC bought a new position in Block during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Block during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% 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.