ProShare Advisors LLC Raises Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 123,740 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,910 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Block were worth $8,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 boosted its holdings in Block by 12.2% in the third quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 11,603,057 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $838,553,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,317 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Block by 192.7% in the third 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 last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at about $535,305,000. Finally, Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new position in Block in the second quarter valued at about $368,213,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on XYZ. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Block in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $74.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen raised Block from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Block from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Loop Capital began coverage on Block in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $75.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Block from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.94.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other Block news, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $225,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 268,169 shares in the company, valued at $20,112,675. This represents a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 583 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.83, for a total value of $40,710.89. Following the sale, the insider owned 480,978 shares in the company, valued at $33,586,693.74. The trade was a 0.12% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 50,352 shares of company stock worth $3,445,228. 11.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Block Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $68.69 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $65.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.75. Block, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.21 and a 52-week high of $82.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.67, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 2.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.55. Block had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 3.30%.The firm had revenue of $6.06 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Block has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.860-0.860 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.850-3.850 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.