GFG Capital LLC Trims Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

GFG Capital LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 27.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,739 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 9,672 shares during the period. GFG Capital LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $1,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in XYZ. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Block by 3.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its holdings in Block by 23.1% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 853 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Block by 0.8% in the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 21,183 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,561,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners II LLC grew its position in Block by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vista Investment Partners II LLC now owns 5,334 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC grew its position in Block by 59.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 495 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 1,173 shares of the company’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 transaction of $76,350.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 98,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,405,637.08. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total value of $225,422.55. Following the transaction, the insider owned 231,262 shares in the company, valued at $14,664,323.42. This trade represents a 1.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 20,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,720 over the last ninety days. 10.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on XYZ. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Block from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Block from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Block from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Raymond James Financial raised Block to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.72.

Block Price Performance

NYSE:XYZ opened at $60.15 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $82.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $58.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.04 billion, a PE ratio of 28.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 2.65.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 6.66% and a net margin of 5.40%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Block Profile

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.