27,148 Shares in Block, Inc. $XYZ Purchased by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System bought a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 27,148 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,962,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in XYZ. Traub Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at $26,000. City Holding Co. bought a new stake in Block in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Finally, SouthState Corp bought a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 10,417 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $639,603.80. Following the transaction, the insider owned 243,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,953,356. This represents a 4.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,608 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total value of $221,531.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 123,198 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,564,357.20. The trade was a 2.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 54,796 shares of company stock worth $3,395,943 in the last three months. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on XYZ. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Truist Financial set a $72.00 price objective on Block in a research note on Tuesday. Zacks Research cut Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Block in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Block from $96.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.97.

Block Stock Performance

NYSE:XYZ opened at $62.65 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.07 billion, a PE ratio of 12.63, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 2.66. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $64.51 and its 200 day moving average is $71.48. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $94.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.18.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. Block had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 5.54%. The company’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share 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.