VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Invests $11.24 Million in Block, Inc. $XYZ

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 147,900 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,240,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Block by 6,740.0% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 54,852,088 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,168,759,000 after acquiring an additional 54,050,161 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $621,703,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $535,305,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Block in the 4th quarter valued at $484,387,000. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $368,213,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Block Trading Down 3.3%

Shares of XYZ opened at $80.03 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.21, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Block, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.21 and a 12-month high of $86.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $80.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 142.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 2.52.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.54. The company had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter. Block had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 8.10%. Block’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.62 earnings per share. Block has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.020-4.020 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.020-1.020 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Block, Inc. will post 2.72 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on shares of Block from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Block from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Block from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.42.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,173 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.42, for a total transaction of $673,618.66. Following the sale, the insider owned 513,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,362,314.02. The trade was a 1.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,511 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.43, for a total value of $783,991.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 423,262 shares in the company, valued at $34,889,486.66. This represents a 2.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 have sold 372,006 shares of company stock worth $29,886,161 over the last quarter. 11.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.