Gladstone Capital Management LLP Trims Stock Position in Block, Inc. $XYZ

Key Points

• Gladstone Capital Management LLP cut its Block stake by 26.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 189,883 shares and leaving it with 514,928 shares valued at about $33.5 million.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive on Block, with analysts assigning a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.42.
• Block reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, posting $0.85 EPS versus the $0.30 estimate and raising its outlook for the year, while insiders have also been selling shares in recent months.

Gladstone Capital Management LLP cut its holdings in Block, Inc. (NYSE:XYZ - Free Report) by 26.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 514,928 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 189,883 shares during the quarter. Block makes up approximately 3.5% of Gladstone Capital Management LLP's portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Gladstone Capital Management LLP owned 0.08% of Block worth $33,517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Baird Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,866,000. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Block in the second quarter valued at $516,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at $385,000. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Block during the second quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Block during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,861,000. 70.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $91.00 target price on shares of Block in a report on Friday, May 8th. Loop Capital assumed coverage on shares of Block in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Block from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Block to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Block from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $85.42.

Insider Activity at Block

In other news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 8,166 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.01, for a total transaction of $555,369.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 601,002 shares of the company's stock, valued at $40,874,146.02. The trade was a 1.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $225,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 268,169 shares in the company, valued at $20,112,675. This trade represents a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 211,680 shares of company stock worth $15,861,321 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.37% of the company's stock.

Block Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE XYZ opened at $74.54 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $44.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 2.56. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.21 and a 12 month high of $82.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.99. The company has a 50-day moving average of $69.79 and a 200-day moving average of $64.50.

Block (NYSE:XYZ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.55. Block had a net margin of 3.30% and a return on equity of 7.02%. The business had revenue of $6.06 billion for the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. Block's revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. 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 predict that Block, Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current year.

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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