State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Acquires New Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System bought a new position in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 548,763 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,277,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $71,000. Korea Investment CORP acquired a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $13,937,000. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Block during the 2nd quarter worth $58,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the second quarter worth $239,000. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in Block in the second quarter worth $1,667,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

XYZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Block in a report on Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Block to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Compass Point upgraded shares of Block from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Macquarie upped their target price on shares of Block from $50.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $94.00 price target on shares of Block in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.42.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 9,959 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $611,482.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 272,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,760,051. This trade represents a 3.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,608 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.40, for a total transaction of $221,531.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 123,198 shares in the company, valued at $7,564,357.20. This represents a 2.85% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 108,958 shares of company stock valued at $7,712,257 over the last quarter. Insiders own 10.85% of the company’s stock.

Block Stock Performance

XYZ opened at $66.69 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $72.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.85. 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 company has a market capitalization of $40.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 2.73. Block, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.27 and a 1-year high of $99.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The technology company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.