First Trust Advisors LP Grows Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ - Free Report) by 12.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 494,003 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 56,316 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.08% of Block worth $29,729,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Block by 57.1% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Rachor Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Block during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Block by 57.6% in the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 610 shares of the technology company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Finally, Osbon Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Block in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 43,348 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $3,467,840.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 557,654 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,612,320. This represents a 7.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Anthony Mathew Eisen sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.90, for a total transaction of $473,400.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,673,672 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $132,052,720.80. This represents a 0.36% 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 335,300 shares of company stock valued at $25,690,936. Insiders own 11.37% of the company's stock.

Block Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NYSE XYZ opened at $82.98 on Wednesday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.21 and a 1 year high of $84.08. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $74.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.22. The firm has a market cap of $49.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.83, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 2.54.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.55. Block had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 3.30%.The firm had revenue of $6.06 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. Block's revenue for the quarter 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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Block, Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on XYZ. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Block to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Block in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Truist Financial increased their price target on Block from $82.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. William Blair cut Block to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Block from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $89.84.

Block 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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