Sigma Planning Corp Trims Holdings in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Sigma Planning Corp decreased its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 54.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,934 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 9,656 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Block were worth $516,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the third quarter worth $27,000. City Holding Co. purchased a new stake in Block in the third quarter worth $27,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the third quarter worth $28,000. RMG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the third quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Block in the third quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of Block stock opened at $70.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $42.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 2.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $47.11 and a 12 month high of $82.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $63.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.23.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a return on equity of 6.66% and a net margin of 5.40%.The firm had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup reduced their target price on Block from $105.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Block from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Block from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Block from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 30,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $2,318,925.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 500,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,561,200. This trade represents a 5.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,769 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.25, for a total value of $106,582.25. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 500,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,170,970.75. The trade was a 0.35% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 49,725 shares of company stock worth $3,401,393 in the last three months. 11.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.