Insider Selling: Block (NYSE:XYZ) Insider Sells 331 Shares of Stock

Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 331 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $21,177.38. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 122,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,861,030.66. The trade was a 0.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Chrysty Esperanza also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, November 21st, Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,608 shares of Block stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $221,531.20.

Block Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of Block stock traded up $1.49 on Tuesday, hitting $69.94. 5,467,033 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,802,261. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $65.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.18 and a quick ratio of 2.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.50 billion, a PE ratio of 14.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 2.66. Block, Inc. has a one year low of $44.27 and a one year high of $94.25.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

XYZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $94.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Zacks Research cut Block from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Block from $96.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.12.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Block by 23.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,626,485 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,887,366,000 after purchasing an additional 12,709,824 shares during the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Block by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 11,603,057 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $838,553,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,317 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Block by 192.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 11,296,224 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $816,378,000 after purchasing an additional 7,436,380 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $634,721,000. Finally, Dragoneer Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at approximately $627,233,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.