Avory & Company LLC Trims Holdings in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Key Points

• Avory & Company LLC cut its Block stake by 63.2% in the first quarter, selling 211,341 shares and leaving it with 123,080 shares valued at about $7.4 million.
• Block reported better-than-expected earnings for the latest quarter, posting $0.85 EPS versus the $0.30 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 4.9% year over year to $6.06 billion.
• Analysts remain mostly constructive on the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $87.56, even as some recent insider sales and a Citigroup downgrade added mixed signals.

Avory & Company LLC lessened its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ - Free Report) by 63.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 123,080 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 211,341 shares during the quarter. Block makes up approximately 9.6% of Avory & Company LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Avory & Company LLC's holdings in Block were worth $7,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in XYZ. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Block by 31.9% during the first quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 4,180 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010 shares during the last quarter. Ascentis Independent Advisors increased its holdings in Block by 52.0% in the first quarter. Ascentis Independent Advisors now owns 9,369 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $564,000 after purchasing an additional 3,205 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR increased its holdings in Block by 218.8% in the first quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 36,962 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $2,224,000 after purchasing an additional 25,367 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Block by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 107,271 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,456,000 after purchasing an additional 9,532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moran Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Block by 86.6% during the 1st quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 107,601 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,475,000 after buying an additional 49,950 shares during the period. 70.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Block Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Block stock opened at $78.95 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.99 billion, a PE ratio of 61.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.54. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.21 and a 52 week high of $82.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $72.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 1.99.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.55. The company had revenue of $6.06 billion for the quarter. Block had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 3.30%.Block's revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. Block has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.860-0.860 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.850-3.850 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on XYZ shares. Wall Street Zen raised Block from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Block from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Citigroup downgraded shares of Block from a "buy" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Block from a "buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Block has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $87.56.

Insider Transactions at Block

In other news, Director Anthony Mathew Eisen sold 36,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.83, for a total value of $2,873,880.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,874,672 shares in the company, valued at $149,655,065.76. This trade represents a 1.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 8,093 shares of Block stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $606,975.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 463,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,743,450. The trade was a 1.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 289,871 shares of company stock worth $21,942,701 in the last 90 days. 11.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Block Company 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.

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