Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Sells 9,832 Shares of Block, Inc. $XYZ

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lowered its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 37.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,438 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 9,832 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $1,209,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Block during the second quarter worth about $621,703,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Block by 18.3% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,194,419 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $234,886,000 after purchasing an additional 494,083 shares in the last quarter. Hyperion Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Block by 6.9% during the second quarter. Hyperion Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,682,854 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $203,897,000 after purchasing an additional 172,848 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Block by 528.2% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,309,296 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $199,153,000 after purchasing an additional 2,782,523 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Block by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,147,988 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $189,353,000 after purchasing an additional 39,112 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

More Block News

Here are the key news stories impacting Block this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Several firms raised price targets, reinforcing expectations for further gains. UBS lifted its target to $105, Raymond James to $100 while maintaining an “outperform” rating, and BMO to $102 with a “market perform” rating. Wells Fargo raised its target to $110 and Barclays to $105, both with “overweight” ratings; Argus raised its target to $105 and maintained “buy.” UBS rating Raymond James rating BMO target update Wells Fargo rating Barclays rating Argus rating
• Positive Sentiment: Block reported better-than-expected earnings, with quarterly EPS of $1.13 versus the $0.68 consensus and revenue growth of 9.9% year over year. Shares subsequently reached a 52-week high, and traders bought a large volume of call options—signals of favorable investor expectations. Earnings and 52-week high Call options activity
• Neutral Sentiment: Rothschild & Co Redburn raised its target from $75 to $85 but kept a “neutral” rating, putting its estimate close to the recent share price. Redburn target update
• Negative Sentiment: Block reportedly made another round of job cuts this year, affecting employees in its Cash App businesses. The reductions may raise concerns about execution or operating pressures despite the recent earnings beat. Report on Block job cuts

Block Price Performance

Shares of NYSE XYZ traded up $1.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $85.58. 7,756,635 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,670,644. The company has a market cap of $51.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.65, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 2.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a current ratio of 2.21. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.21 and a twelve month high of $88.51.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The technology company reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $6.72 billion during the quarter. Block had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 8.10%. The business’s revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 2.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on XYZ. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on Block from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Daiwa Securities Group upped their price target on Block from $80.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Citigroup upgraded Block from a “buy” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America increased their price objective on Block from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Block from $100.00 to $110.00 in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, Director Anthony Eisen sold 35,000 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.50, for a total value of $3,062,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,177,672 shares in the company, valued at approximately $103,046,300. The trade was a 2.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 261,686 shares of company stock worth $20,924,307. Company insiders own 11.37% of the company’s stock.

Block Company Profile

Block, Inc is a financial technology company that provides payment and commerce tools to businesses and financial services for consumers. Its products include Square, a platform offering payment processing, point-of-sale software and related business services, and Cash App, which provides person-to-person payments and other financial features.

The company also owns Afterpay, a buy-now, pay-later service, and TIDAL, a music and entertainment platform. Block serves businesses and consumers in the United States and other markets, with product availability varying by country.

Founded in 2009 as Square by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey, the company adopted the name Block in 2021.