Korea Investment CORP Invests $13.94 Million in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Korea Investment CORP acquired a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 205,172 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,937,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Traub Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. SouthState Corp acquired a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of XYZ opened at $66.69 on Monday. Block, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.27 and a twelve month high of $99.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 2.66. The company has a current ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.94.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on XYZ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Mizuho raised their price objective on Block from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Block in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane downgraded Block from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $86.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.42.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,959 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total value of $611,482.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 272,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,760,051. This trade represents a 3.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 35,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider directly owned 535,896 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,871,680. This trade represents a 6.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 108,958 shares of company stock valued at $7,712,257 in the last three months. 10.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Block

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.