Block, Inc. $XYZ Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its Block stake by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, though it still held 3.11 million shares valued at about $202.7 million.
• Block reported strong quarterly results, posting $0.85 EPS versus the $0.30 consensus and revenue of $6.06 billion, up 4.9% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with multiple firms raising price targets and the stock carrying a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average target price of $84.97.

Legal & General Group Plc cut its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ - Free Report) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,114,239 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 30,521 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.51% of Block worth $202,706,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cibc World Market Inc. increased its position in shares of Block by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 179,271 shares of the technology company's stock worth $12,956,000 after purchasing an additional 34,678 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter worth about $5,400,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Block by 2,385.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 612,358 shares of the technology company's stock worth $44,255,000 after purchasing an additional 587,719 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,323,000. Finally, Mutual of America Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the 3rd quarter worth about $4,305,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of XYZ opened at $71.35 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 1.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.46 billion, a PE ratio of 55.74, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 2.57. Block, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.21 and a 1 year high of $82.50.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) 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 business had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. The business'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 predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 1,316 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.54, for a total transaction of $90,198.64. Following the sale, the insider owned 479,662 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,876,033.48. This trade represents a 0.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,166 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total value of $555,369.66. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 601,002 shares in the company, valued at $40,874,146.02. This trade represents a 1.34% 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 49,485 shares of company stock worth $3,573,346 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.37% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

XYZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Block to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Loop Capital began coverage on Block in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "buy" rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $84.97.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.