Liontrust Investment Partners LLP Sells 118,115 Shares of Block, Inc. $XYZ

Liontrust Investment Partners LLP cut its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 95.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,110 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 118,115 shares during the quarter. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP’s holdings in Block were worth $308,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Block by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Block by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 707 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Block by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 5,270 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Block by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Carson Advisory Inc. now owns 8,035 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA increased its position in Block by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA now owns 800 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Block

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 43,348 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $3,467,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 557,654 shares in the company, valued at $44,612,320. This represents a 7.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 8,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $606,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 463,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,743,450. This represents a 1.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 347,300 shares of company stock worth $26,657,536. Company insiders own 11.37% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on XYZ shares. Clear Str raised shares of Block to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Block from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Block from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Block from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Block presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.84.

Block Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $81.22 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.99. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.21 and a 1 year high of $84.08. The firm has a market cap of $48.34 billion, a PE ratio of 63.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 2.54.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.55. Block had a net margin of 3.30% and a return on equity of 7.02%. The firm had revenue of $6.06 billion for the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Block has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.860-0.860 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.850-3.850 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current 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.