Ethic Inc. Invests $2.18 Million in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Ethic Inc. bought a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 32,714 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,180,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $46,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $73,000. S Bank Fund Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $92,000. Private Trust Co. NA bought a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $94,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter worth about $96,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $79.56 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $76.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.25. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $99.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.50 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 2.71. 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 (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.62 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.32 billion. Block’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $58.00 price target (up from $50.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Block from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price objective (up from $79.00) on shares of Block in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Block from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered shares of Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $86.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.42.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,276 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.69, for a total value of $97,856.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 282,924 shares in the company, valued at $21,697,441.56. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total transaction of $2,811,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 535,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,871,680. This represents a 6.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 123,041 shares of company stock valued at $9,355,075. Company insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

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.