Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac Takes Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Key Points

• Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac initiated a new position in Block during the fourth quarter, buying 93,516 shares valued at about $6.18 million.
• Block recently reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.85 versus the $0.30 estimate and revenue of $6.06 billion, up 4.9% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive: several firms raised ratings or price targets, and Block currently has a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target price of $84.97.

Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac acquired a new stake in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 93,516 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $6,179,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of XYZ. Baird Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,866,000. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $516,000. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $385,000. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Block in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,861,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company's stock.

Block Price Performance

NYSE XYZ opened at $74.27 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $44.20 billion, a PE ratio of 58.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 2.57. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.21 and a 52 week high of $82.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $66.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $63.70.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.55. The business had revenue of $6.06 billion for the quarter. Block had a net margin of 3.30% and a return on equity of 7.02%. Block's revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company 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. Research analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on XYZ. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Block to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Block from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Arete Research upgraded shares of Block from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Block from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Three 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $84.97.

Insider Buying and Selling at Block

In other news, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 1,316 shares of the company'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 directly owned 479,662 shares in the company, valued at $32,876,033.48. This represents a 0.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Chrysty Esperanza sold 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $225,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 268,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,112,675. This represents a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 49,485 shares of company stock valued at $3,573,346 in the last three months. 11.37% of the stock is 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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