Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Takes $73,000 Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,068 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of XYZ. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. S Bank Fund Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $92,000. Private Trust Co. NA acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $94,000. Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $96,000. Finally, Financial Perspectives Inc acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $156,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $2,811,600.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 535,896 shares in the company, valued at $42,871,680. The trade was a 6.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $60,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 102,308 shares in the company, valued at $8,184,640. This represents a 0.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 123,041 shares of company stock worth $9,355,075. 10.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE:XYZ opened at $79.56 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $99.26. The stock has a market cap of $48.50 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 2.71. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.39.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.41. Block had a net margin of 12.32% and a return on equity of 7.85%. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.32 billion. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on XYZ shares. Citigroup raised shares of Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BTIG Research set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Block and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Block from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.42.

Block Profile

Square, Inc provides payment and point-of-sale solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's commerce ecosystem includes point-of-sale software and hardware that enables sellers to turn mobile and computing devices into payment and point-of-sale solutions. It offers hardware products, including Magstripe reader, which enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Contactless and chip reader that accepts EMV® chip cards and Near Field Communication payments; Chip card reader, which accepts EMV® chip cards and enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Square Stand, which enables an iPad to be used as a payment terminal or full point of sale solution; and Square Register that combines its hardware, point-of-sale software, and payments technology, as well as managed payments solutions.