Block, Inc. $XYZ Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group trimmed its stake in Block by 3.1%, selling 83,369 shares and leaving it with 2,599,467 shares (about 0.43% of the company) valued at roughly $169.2 million at quarter-end.
• Insider selling has been active: executives Owen Britton Jennings and Brian Grassadonia sold 3,555 and 1,769 shares respectively, and insiders have sold 15,806 shares (~$857,468) over the last 90 days while owning 10.49% of the stock.
• Analysts remain generally positive after Block beat Q earnings (EPS $0.65 vs. $0.26 consensus; revenue $6.25B, +3.6% YoY), with an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.72.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lessened its stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ - Free Report) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,599,467 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 83,369 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.43% of Block worth $169,199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in XYZ. Baird Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,866,000. Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $516,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $385,000. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Block in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,861,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on XYZ shares. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Block from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Block from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. HSBC raised shares of Block from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Block from a "hold" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $83.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Block presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total transaction of $225,422.55. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 231,262 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,664,323.42. The trade was a 1.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,769 shares of Block stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.25, for a total transaction of $106,582.25. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 500,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,170,970.75. This trade represents a 0.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 15,806 shares of company stock valued at $857,468. Corporate insiders own 10.49% of the company's stock.

Block Stock Performance

Shares of XYZ stock opened at $62.12 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.22 billion, a PE ratio of 29.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 2.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $58.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.91. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $82.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $6.25 billion during the quarter. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. Block's revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.54 EPS for the current fiscal 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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