25,100 Shares in Block, Inc. $XYZ Acquired by New Mexico Educational Retirement Board

Key Points

• New Mexico Educational Retirement Board bought a new stake of 25,100 shares of Block (NYSE:XYZ) in Q3, valued at about $1.814 million, and institutional investors/hedge funds own roughly 70.44% of the stock.
• Company insiders have been selling recently — 20,352 shares sold in the last 90 days (including Brian Grassadonia's 10,349 shares at $50 and CFO Amrita Ahuja's 1,101 shares at $63.98) — leaving insiders with 10.85% ownership.
• Block beat quarterly expectations with $0.65 EPS vs. $0.26 est. and $6.25 billion in revenue (+3.6% YoY); analysts hold a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating with a $82.14 target price.

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board purchased a new stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 25,100 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,814,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. City Holding Co. bought a new position in Block during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Nemes Rush Group LLC bought a new position in Block during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Block during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Traub Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Block during the second quarter worth about $26,000. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 10,349 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $517,450.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 503,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,189,200. The trade was a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 1,101 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.98, for a total value of $70,441.98. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 271,864 shares in the company, valued at $17,393,858.72. The trade was a 0.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 20,352 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,720 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 10.85% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Arete Research raised shares of Block from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Block from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Block from a "hold" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $83.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Block to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of Block from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $77.00 in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $82.14.

Block Stock Performance

Block stock opened at $59.25 on Friday. Block, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.27 and a fifty-two week high of $82.50. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $59.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 2.20. The company has a market cap of $36.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 2.65.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The business had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

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.

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