Yousif Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Yousif Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 59,983 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,335,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. SouthState Corp acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Block during the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new stake in Block during the second quarter worth $31,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Block Price Performance

Shares of Block stock opened at $66.21 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.35, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 2.65. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.20. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.27 and a 12 month high of $94.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.18 and a quick ratio of 2.18.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.29. Block had a return on equity of 5.54% and a net margin of 12.99%.The firm had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on XYZ shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Compass Point raised Block from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Block from $58.00 to $55.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Truist Financial raised Block from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.42.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.96, for a total transaction of $500,946.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 521,352 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,302,969.92. This represents a 1.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Arnaud Weber sold 7,095 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $435,633.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 259,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,910,950.40. This represents a 2.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 92,617 shares of company stock worth $6,474,580 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.85% 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.